Helps to profitable paper making

IS

co

Pa.V=«v

Helps to Profitable
Paper Making.

"Machinery, deemed the perfection of inge-
nuity, is transformed into old iron by new in-
ventions; the new ship dashes scornfully by
the naval prodigy of last year, and the steam-
er laughs at them both."

CHICAGO:

THE PAPER TRADE.
1898.

The Bagley
& Sewall Co.,

Watertown, N. Y.

FOURDRINIER

PAPER
MACHINES

And all Attendant Machinery, Hydraulic Pulp Grinders
for the Heaviest Duty. Wet Machines for Sul-

§hite and Ground Wood Pulp. Patent Air Blast
creens. Pumps of all kinds. Hard Maple Press
Rolls and Suction Box Covers.

Thousands Saved Yearly

Ir. barking 30 cordt per day with our

NEW BARKER,

For it handles the logs automaticaily, takes wood from
five Inches to thirty inches in diameter, two feet
long. Cutting is regulated by the operator to one-
thousanth part of an inch.

If you need anything in the line of Paper or Pulp Ma-
chinery write them.

INTRODUCTION.

This book needs but little in the way of in-
troduction. Its title and table of contents tell
their own story. Its object is to contribute
practical suggestions in regard to paper mak-
ing that will not only assist every operative in
the mill, but the paper manufacturer himself,
in securing desired results. On its pages the
paper dealer will also find something of value.
The volume is a compilation of a series of ar-
ticles published from time to time in THE
PAPER TRADE, that have proved so accept-
able to those identified with this industry, that
it is deemed wise to present them in book form
to the end that they may prove indeed HELPS
TO PROFITABLE PAPER MAKING.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER.

I. ERECTING A PAPER MILL

II THE BOILERS .

Ill THE BEATING ENGINE

IV. RUNNING PAPER MACHINES BY

ELECTRICITY

V USING OF BLEACH

VI. RECOVERY OF SODA ASH

VII. USING OLD PAPER .

VIII PREPARATION OF STOCK .

IX How TO DRY PAPER

X. THE FINISHING ROOM

XI. THE MACHINE SHOP

XII CONTROL OF A PAPER MILL

XIII CONTROL OF WORKPEOPLE

XIV SOME HINDRANCES
XV. SOME REMEDIES

XVI. A NEGLECTED FIBRE

XVII SUNDAY WORK . . . .

XVIII WHERE PROFIT is LOST .

XIX. PAPER MILL BOOKKEEPING

XX PERSISTENCE NEEDED

PAGE.

7
15

22
3°

35

41

44
49

57

63

68

73

78

84
90

94
101
107

Ir3
r 2 i

HELPS TO PROFITABLE
PAPER MAKING.

CHAPTER I.

ERECTIXG A PAPER MILL.

"The world will touch its hat to you, and give you
plenty of ceremonious respect: but its real regard, it
will reserve for the hero who has the nerve to throw
his hat into the ring, and fight out the battle of life
in a manly and creditable way."

In the erection of a paper mill, a man fol-
lows very much the same course as in the erec-
tion of a house to dwell in. i. e., he builds ac-
cording to his requirements, as he may per-
ceive them at the time. He seldom makes al-
lowances for the time when his business may
have gained to such an extent that the exten-

8 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

sion of his premises has become an absolute
necessity, and when this time comes, he has to
do the best he can under the circumstances.
He may add a wing here and there but at the
finish his place is very much like the book
"taken in numbers." The mill is inconvenient
for carrying on an economic or profitable bus-
iness.

The "old mill" is fast disappearing. Many
of them ought never to have existed. Of
course it was impossible for the pioneers of
paper-making, the men of say forty or fifty
years ago, to see to what proportions the pa-
per-making industry would extend and devel-
op, hence the rooms were constructed on a
small scale; the machine room, for example,
would be on a par with the machines of those
days, which were not more than 50 to 6b
inches on the wire.

When the exigencies of trade required a
wider machine, the old machine-room had to
be altered or a new one erected. Hence the
need of extensive alterations and improve-
ments, absorbing, more or less, the profits of
the business, and involving a great amount of
anxiety and worry.

These old mills of forty or fifty years ago,

PAPER MAKING. g

were, moreover, dirty and inconvenient in the
extreme. They were so crowded with machin-
ery, and so badly lighted, that it was impossi-
ble to keep them clean or in anything like de-
cent order for turning out clean paper. All
kinds of rubbish would lie about the floor,
and pulp, in various stages of putrefaction,
might be found concealed in all sorts of dark
corners about the machine room, giving out
such offensive odors as to render the atmos-
phere unhealthy to work in. To make money
out of paper-making in these days, or to carry
it on with anything like success, a man not
only needs to be fully alive to the business re-
quirements of the age himself, but he must
have a mill adequate in every particular to
meet the exigencies of trade and the con-
stantly increasing competition of the times in
which he lives. Without these, a paper-maker
is simply nowhere and will very soon become
one of the forgotten things of the past.

It is, therefore, of the utmost importance,
when commencing a new paper-making indus-
try, and a new mill has to be erected, that
great care should be observed to have it set
out in such a way as will not only meet the im-
mediate wants of the trade, but allow for future

I0 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

extensions without involving more labor and
expense than is absolutely necessary.

How very gladly many of the men who have
now the control of one of these old mills
would be to have the supervision of a new
structure. Guided by their past experience
they would build very differently and more in
accord with the wants of the age.

In the erection of a new mill three impor-
tant matters have to be kept very prominently
in view. In the first place is the site. A paper
mill cannot well be built in the center of a
town, nor yet on the top of a hill. It has got
to be put in such a position as commands the
greatest number of natural advantages. Wher-
ever possible, it should be erected where it can
have the use of water power for driving pur-
poses. A "free drive" is a great help and very
materially lessens the amount of the coal bill,
which in some mills and in some districts is
very large.

It should, moreover, be erected in such a
place as will insure its getting a full and unin-
cumbered supply of the cleanest water; and
where it can also have an easy and uninter-
rupted way of discharging its waste water

PAPER MAKING. n

without incurring litigation from any vested
interests below.

Then comes the next and all-important
question as to the kind of building to put up,
and this, to a very great extent, will have to
be determined by the kind of paper it is in-
tended to make. It is, of course, assumed that
in choosing a site, care will be taken to have
it as near as possible to a good railway and
easy of access in both summer and winter. If
the mill is going to make a common paper,
say news, for example, where the output win
be large to begin with, and likely to increase
it must be remembered that a great amount
of material will have to be carried from the de-
pot as well as the output taken thereto ; and it
may safely be taken for granted, that whatever
be the output of the mill, the materials brought
in, inclusive of coal, chemicals, etc., will be
three or four times the weight of the paper go-
ing out.

The mill building should be commensurate
with the work to be done. The rooms should
be so arranged that the raw materials shall go
in at one end and come out in finished paper
at the other. The stuff should never have to
travel backward. This method will be found

12 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

to be the most economical, the one easiest to
manage and supervise, as well as that securing
the greatest amount of cleanliness. If the
buildings used for storing and treating raw
materials in their initial stages, are as far as
possible isolated from the mill proper, the
charges for insurance will be very materially
lessened. When raw materials have got so
far as the boiler or pan in which they are
cooled, there is not much danger of them tak-
ing fire. As for the washing and beating
rooms, it would be somewhat difficult to set
them on fire were a person so disposed. But
if over and above these rooms, there is one
used as a storeroom or for preparing raw ma-
terials, then will the insurance premiums go up
to a fabulous sum.

The washing and beating room should be
put broadside at the end of the machine room,
and the latter should be so wide as to take in
a second or a third machine so soon as the ex-
igencies of trade may require them.

All the rooms should be lofty, well lighted
and easy of ventilation.

The finishing room should be at the end or
quite contiguous to the machine room, so that
the paper may be easily transferred thereto

PAPER MAKING. 13

without incurring more than a minimum
amount of labor.

The finishing room should also be so ar-
ranged that the paper can be very readily
shipped therefrom to the railway depot.

Care should be taken to have the steam boil-
ers set up in such part of the premises as that
they shall not only best answer their purpose
for supplying steam efficiently and econom-
ically, but where they shall create the least
amount of nuisance and dirt. With a mill so
arranged, the matter of supervision is reduced
to a minimum. Everything is open and naked
to the eye of a manager or superintendent as
they pass through the mill. A mill of this
kind is much more easy to keep clean, and the
work people themselves go about their duties
with more energy and spirit. A mill laid out
in this fashion will make cleaner and better
papers ; and if it should be a news mill or one
where output is a desideratum, there is more
scope for operations of every kind.

There are many considerations to be taken
into account when choosing a site for a mill,
such as the housing of the help, all of whom,
but especially those holding important posi-
tions, should live as near as possible to the

I4 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

mill. If there are no houses in the immediate
neighborhood, care should be taken to secure
land for the erection of such at the earliest op-
portunity.

Where a mill has got to be driven by steam
care should be taken to have the very best and
most economical kind of steam boiler. But as
this is a large and important subject, we treat
it in the following chapter.

PAPER MAKING.

CHAPTER II.

THE BOILERS.

"There are some men who, though they succeed
best in a particular sphere, yet have a marvelous
flexibility, versatility, and power of adaptation,
which enables them to thrive in almost any pursuit.''

A good and reliable steam supply is abso-
lutely necessary in any kind of manufacturing
establishments where power is required. If
this is not right, other things will very soon go
wrong; and nothing is more tantalizing than
the failure of steam to keep up the motive
power in its full efficiency.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in a
paper mill. Steam is wanted there for the pur-
pose of driving the machines: and if there is
no water power, for driving the whole of the
mill as well. Steam is also required for drying
the paper, and for this purpose alone it is nec-
essary to keep it as far as possible at one tem-
perature, otherwise the paper will be unevenly

X6 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

dried, and the uniformity as to finish utterly
destroyed. It is, therefore, of the very utmost
importance that a reliable and substantial
boiler should be used, one that will be fully
equal, in any emergency, to whatever it has
to do.

It is, alas! only too true, that, in many old
mills where the mechanism is of ancient date,
an endless amount of trouble and worry is oc-
casioned from time to time, not only by the
"giving out" of something connected with the
steam boiler, but from the fact that the said
boilers are altogether inadequate to meet the
requirements of modern paper-making.

We are, however, not wishing to tinker up
these old boilers, which have had their day, but
to speak of such a boiler as it is desirable to
select in case one were about to erect a new pa-
per mill, and furnish it from top to bottom with
the most effective modern plant and ma-
chinery.

There are, as a matter of course, an endless
variety of boilers offered, all more or less mer-
itorious in some element or other connected
with their construction, but not altogether
such as will meet with general approval, or
answer the requirements expected from them.

PAPER MAKING. 17

The boiler, par excellence, should be one
that will raise steam quickly, and keep up the
supply at a uniform pressure at the least pos-
sible cost. In many of the small boilers now
in the market, it is possible to get up steam
as quickly as the boiling of a kettle; but when
once the valve is opened, the steam gets con-
sumed in next to no time, from the simple fact
that the capacity of the boiler is not equal to
the retention of any great amount of reserve:
and to keep up anything like a uniformity of
supply, a greater amount of firing is necessary
than is consistent with economy.

From the above, it may naturally be inferred
that small boilers, whatever may be their merit
for raising steam quickly, are not the most de-
sirable in any mill that uses a considerable
s mount of steam.

Some of the boilers, the construction of
which are of modern date, are also objection-
able from the fact that they contain an endless
number of small tubes, pipes and other fittings,
that very soon begin to burn out or give way
from wear and tear, causing no end of trouble
to the management. These tubes are intro-
duced for the purpose of increasing the steam-
raising properties of the boiler, but they are

!8 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

not such as will readily do this; whilst they
very soon get out of order and give trouble.

According to the judgment of the writer,
who has had a long experience in the use of
boilers of various makes, the boiler best cal-
culated to give satisfaction all round is one of
seven feet diameter, and twenty-eight feet in
length.

It is quite true, that frequently a small-sized
boiler is obtained for the reason that it has to
fit a certain place which would not admit of
anything larger. This is a mistake— nay, it is
more; it is a blunder. Make a place for a
boiler and then obtain the boiler for the place.

In the erection of a new mill, or the exten-
sive and fundamental alteration of an old one,
let the steam boilers — one, two or three, as the
mill's requirements may need, be not less than
28 feet long, and 7 feet in diameter. A small
boiler, no matter what the make or merits
thereof, is, as a rule, anything but an eco-
nomical boiler. Such a boiler may do for a
tight place as a matter of convenience, or
where the work to be done is only infinitesimal
in amount, but we are now speaking of paper
mills, where the steam requirements are large,
and space is of little or no moment.

MAKING. 19

The great disadvantage of a small boiler for
raising steam is, first, its deficiency in water
surface for the disengagement of the steam
from the water: and, second, the reserve of
steam is inadequate to meet any sudden or un-
usual emergency, so that constant firing is ab-
solutely necessary. The first drawback will
create foaming, the second priming, neither of
which defects is found in larger boilers when
properly worked.

This boiler of 28 feet by 7 feet, should have
two circular fire boxes, the upper half of each
being used for the fire, and the lower half for
the ashes. The bridge should be erected at
about 5 feet 6 inches from the front of the
boiler, and the bridge itself should fill about
half the space from the grate level to the upper
part of the fire box. The fire box will be
about 2 feet 6 inches wide, and this will give
about 25 feet of heating surface between the
two.

Behind the bridge, the boiler should be con-
structed with a fire chamber extending to the
far end of the boiler, oval in shape and about
4 feet 6 inches wide, and 3 feet deep in cen-
ter. In this chamber the upper and lower
part of the boiler should be connected by a

20

series of tubes of only nine inches in diameter,
and arranged in rows of two and three alter-
natively. Through these tubes the smoke and
heat will make their way to the end of the
boiler, at which point the current should be
turned through a big flue running underneath
the entire length of the boiler, covering an
area about equal to one-fourth of the circum-
ference of the boiler.

The bottom flue should extend to within a
foot or two of the front end of the boiler, and
then diverge into side flues, through which the
smoke and heat would again traverse a consid-
erable area of boiler surface, the smoke finally
escaping to the chimney through the main flue
at the back of the boilers.

The boiler constructed in this way has many
advantages. It affords a larger heating sur-
face than any other. The white heat from the
furnaces plays directly on the tubes, whilst the
bottom and side flues afford ample scope for
exhausting the heat, instead of letting it escape
to the chimney shaft. The water is, moreover,
kept in a thorough and continuous circulation
between the upper and lower portions of the
bciler, securing as well as maintaining an even
temperature throughout the fire chamber in

PAPER UAK1\<;.

21

v 1 ich the tubes are located; affords space for
the combustion of the gases, generated in the
furnace before they can get way to the chim-
ney.

The boiler should be well-fixed, and the
flues neatly, substantially and uniformly con-
structed. If these things are properly done, at
the outset, the boiler will go for a very long
time without needing repairs of any kind. It
will generate steam quickly and will contain
a steam and water capacity sufficient to pre-
vent any fluctuation in steam pressure or
water level. The draught will be everything
that could be desired, and the consumption of
coal — provided the quality is right — does not
often, in this make of boiler, exceed one pound
of coal per horse power per hour.

22 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER III.

THE BEATING ENGINE.

"The difficulties, hardships, and trials of life — the
obstacles one encounters on the road to fortune —
are positive blessings."

No part of the working operations of a pa-
per mill is more important than that of the
beater room, and no part of a paper maker's
education is probably more neglected than
that of preparing stock for the machines. The
making — the actual making — of a sheet of
paper is a mechanical operation, but the real
science of paper-making is that which enables
a man so to bring forward his stuff in the beat-
ing engine as to make a good sheet of paper
out of very ordinary material, and to do it in
such a way. moreover, as shall secure its safe
and easy passage across the machine with the
fewest possible breaks.

In the making of news, in these days of fast
driving, it is getting too much the practice to

PAPER MAKiyG. 33

scamp the beating of stock. This is done for
a two-fold reason: First, that the time will not
allow of the stuff being kept too long in the
engine; and secondly, that the stock itself,
consisting largely, if not entirely, of soft stuff,
such as ground wood, does not require the
amount of beating necessary for stronger
fibres.

This is all very true when applied to the
making of news or other papers of a low grade.
The stock will not need or even stand, much
beating. But in mills making the higher
grades of book or writing papers this kind of
beating will not do. The material is of a kind
that requires to be carefully prepared and if
not well beaten, the paper will not come up
to the standard required, and as a natural con-
sequence will fail in obtaining the price ex-
pected for it.

In the making of these finer grades of paper,
therefore, everything depends upon the stock
being brought forward in a proper man-
ner. The harder the stock the longer it will
take in the engine and the more effectually
and scientifically it is drawn out. the more per-
fect and uniform will be the paper made. There
must be no "scamping" here, nor must the

24 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

beaterman fall into the erroneous notion that
the Emerson-Jordan will do the work which
ought to be done in the beater. These engines
were never designed for beating stock, but
simply for refining or rendering uniform the
fibres that had not received proper treatment
by the roll of the beater. Any deviation from
this will end in failure to obtain a close and
well-felted sheet of paper.

It is, therefore, in the skillful manipulation
of the beating engine that the true science of
paper-making comes in. It is not work for a
common laborer, but for a man who shall have
first been carefully educated and instructed in
the business.

A man who is quick to learn and who takes
an interest in the work will very soon learn by
a careful observance of the modes adopted by
an experienced beaterman.

Over and above everything else a beater-
man needs to be reliable. An erratic man will
not do at all. The stock needs to be uniformly
beaten, every time, not beating one and scamp-
ing another. Beating of this kind leads to
very disastrous consequences for it is utterly
impossible for a machine man to make a good
sheet of paper out of stock so beaten. It will

PAPER J/AAV.Y',. 25

clog up his screens at one time and flow too
freely at another, the result being a most un-
evenly made sheet.

One of the commonest mistakes made by
amateur beatermen is that of grinding the
stock instead of beating it. The stock should
be drawn not ground; and this may be done
without injury to the fibre or detracting from
its strength. This, however, can only be done
by careful management of the roll during the
process of beating. A beaterman, who under-
stands his business, will carefully examine the
nature of the stock he has to work upon, and
the kind of sheet intended to be made from it.
If a thin sheet is wanted, the beaterman will
need to beat his stock accordingly, leaving the
fibres as long as may be consistent with the
making of a close and well-formed sheet. This
he can do by letting down his roll as lightly
as possible, so as to "draw" and not to "grind"
the stuff into mere slush. If the stuff be beaten
in this sort of way, a strong and wiry sheet
will be the result: on the contrary, if the roll
is put down hard and the fibre ground down
the paper will be short, rotten, and worthless
as a marketable commodity.

In the case of papers of heavier substance,

26 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

and especially in those of fine grade, where a
close and well-felted sheet is an absolute ne-
cessity, the beater roll will have to be let down
a little more closely so as toXlraw the stuff
more finely. To make papers of this kind and
make them satisfactorily in every respect the
stuff needs to be kept in the engine for a
longer period and the beating done with skill
and care. After the engine is filled in, it
should be allowed to revolve for an hour or so
with the roll so lightly down as to do nothing
more than simply brush and open out the
stock and thus prepare it for further treatment.
Putting down the roll heavily at the outset
would spoil the whole thing and render it im-
possible to make a good sheet of paper after-
wards, that is, one of the kind required. It-
would be raw and coarse as if made from fine
sawdust.

At the end of about an hour the roll should
be gradually lowered, a very little at a time,
and this operation should be followed up until
the beating is complete and the stuff in a fit
state for going down to the machine. The time
required for beating will all depend on the na-
ture of the stock and the kind of paper to be
made. In fine grades — such as book or writ-

PAPER MAKING. 27

ing — the time will vary from four to eight
hours according to the strength of the stock
and the substance of the paper required.

Stuff brought forward in this way will make
a good sheet of paper; the fibres are worked
down to a fine point and, being uniform in
length, they will knit together more closely
under the shake of the wire and make a strong
and well-formed sheet of paper. A paper so
made will also carry more filling and take a
better finish at the calenders.

In the case of blotting paper, the beating
has to be done after another fashion. The ma-
terials as a rule are soft and do not require
much beating. In fact, the quicker the stuff
is got through the engine the better will it
retain the absorbent properties required in a
good sheet of blotting.

Beating is always most difficult where the
"filling in" consists of two or three grades of
stock, some soft and some hard. If the hard
stock is in excess of the soft then the beating
must be regulated accordingly. That hard
stock must be reduced in a careful and judi-
cious manner so as to pass the screens, leaving
the softer stock to take care of itself. Of course
this will get beaten fine and will go to fill in

2g HELPS TO PROFITABLE

the interstices left by the stronger fibre, and
so combining will make a stronger and better
formed sheet of paper on the machine.

Another point to which a beaterman's atten-
tion should be constantly directed is that of
stirring his engine at frequent and regular
periods. Stuff will lodge in various places in
large clumps which need to be disturbed or
the stuff will not be uniformly beaten. Any
neglect of this will show itself in the paper at
once, and very greatly mar its appearance.

Another important matter requiring a beat-
erman's attention and care is that of the "fur-
nish'' of his engine. Some ignorant and stupid
beatermen will throw into the engine at the
very start every ingredient that has to go into
it regardless of the effect they may have in the
result; stock, clay, color, alum size, etc., all
are dumped in in a heterogenous mass at the
outset. This is a mistake. The clay, in liquid
form, may be advantageously run in at the
start. It helps to float the stock and saves the
water to that extent. It moreover gives it a
chance to work into the fibre and causes more
of it to be retained in the paper. The alum
can be added immediately afterwards. The
sizing, however, should never be put into the

PAPER UAKIXG. 29

engine until after the color has been inserted
and has fairly impregnated the stock. The ne-
cessity for this is very obvious. If the size is
put in before the color, the colors cannot have
the same effect upon the stock.

These and other little matters, need to be
carefully studied by the beaterman who wants
to do his work in a workmanlike manner, and
attention to them will result in making a bet-
ter and more valuable paper.

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER IV.

RUNNING PAPER MACHINES BY ELECTRICITY.

"The times demand men of large, liberal, ener-
getic souls: and the man who insists upon doing bus-
iness in the old-fashioned, jog-trot, humdrum way,
is as much out of place, as he who insists on travel-
ing with an ox-team."

The latest and most important improve-
ments that have been made in the paper-mak-
ing industry of this country is that of running
the machinery by electricity instead of steam
power as heretofore. That this can be done,
and done successfully, is an accomplished fact
as any one interested in the subject may verify
by a visit to the Cliff Paper Company's mill at
Niagara Falls, N. Y., where by inspection of
their two machines run by electricity, and all
the electrical plant necessary for the purpose
of driving the same, indicating as it does the
great march of improvement in the mechanism
of paper mills, and to a certain extent fore-

PAPER

casting the still further advantage to be de-
rived from the wonderful power of electricity
in the near future. There are two machines at
this mill, a 90 inch and a 102 inch, both driven
by electricity.

The plant is located between the canal basin
and the great gorge of the Niagara River. The
paper mill stands on the bank above, and is
driven by water power from the canal, the wa-
ter being used a second time for driving the
ground wood mill on the edge of the river be-
low.

This is a stone building 100 feet long by 40
feet wide. The water is carried down from the
tail-race above through a penstock, 8 feet in
diameter, with a fall of 125 feet, developing at
the bottom about 2,500 horse power. This is
used for driving, by means of two Leffel
wheels of 1.250 horse power each, the four
wood pulp grinders now in operation and
from which the company obtain a product
from some twenty cords of wood daily.

For driving the paper machines by electric-
ity the company have two immense dynamos,
or "generators," as they are called, either of
which is sufficiently powerful in itself to drive
both machines. Only one of these was run-

32 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ning on the occasion of my visit. They are
also driven by Leffel wheels of immense
power.

To obtain a supply of water for driving this
new electrical plant, the company had to tap
the penstock before referred to, and run there-
from a branch pipe 36 inches in diameter
which was found quite sufficient for the pur-
pose.

The water wheels driving these generators
are regulated to a nicety, so as to give a steady
and uniform drive. If the water wheel should
make a variation of say five per cent in its
speed, either way, the generators being com-
pound wound, makes a variation of only two
and one-half per cent in the current. Then
by using the electricity through compound
motors, this variation is again reduced fifty
per cent bringing it down to a minimum vari-
ation of one and one-fourth only.

In this way a much steadier and more reli-
able speed is obtained than by means of a
steam engine and the machines run gaily
along hour after hour without a break, the
machine-tender having no difficulty whatever
in keeping his paper exact to weight.

In the mere matter of oil there is an im-

PAPER MAKING.

33

raense saving over that of a steam engine. A
gallon of oil is placed in the self-feeding boxes,
and this will last two weeks, working night
and day. There is, moreover, a still further
advantage. Instead of the oil coming away
from the bearings in a dirty grimy state, as
from a steam engine, it runs off comparatively
clear, and, being caught in its descent, is used
a second time for oiling bearings in other
parts of the mill. The saving in oil alone,
would be equal to three per cent upon the cost
of the investment for electrical plant.

As every machine-tender can testify, the
wear and tear on a machine is very consider-
able. There is always something getting out
of order or breaking down completely, neces-
sitating stoppage of the machine and loss of
output. However, with electricity there was
none of these vexatious and inconvenient
stoppages. There were no break-downs, and
any little thing requiring adjustment could be
effected whilst running or during a shut-down
for changing off. It is a great saving in the
full consumption of the mill, no steam being
required in the machine room, except that
used for drying the paper, and this at a con-

34

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

siderably reduced pressure to that needed for
driving steam engines.

The machines run at from 300 to 350 feet a
minute according to the nature and substance
of the paper being made, and the daily output
is about 25 tons of paper and 30 tons of wood
pulp daily.

To the uninitiated, the electrical plant
would seem intricate and complicated far be-
yond the capacity of an ordinary workman to
control. The superintendent of the mill
thought so when it was first introduced; but
by a little examination and study of the mech-
anism he soon became as familiar with all its
details and peculiarities as with the common
steam engine and they have no trouble what-
ever, its movements being as uniform and reg-
ular as "clock-work."

PAPER MAKING. 35

CHAPTER V.

USING OF BLEACH.

"The men who have become famous by the in-
vention of new processes, or the improvement of
old sciences, have forced their way to distinction
against many trials and discouragements."

One of the most important operations in a
book or writing paper mill is that of the prep-
aration and use of bleaching powder. Where
this article is extensively used, a good deal
may be saved and the best results can be ob-
tained by following out certain carefully out-
lined instructions.

Bleaching powder, or chloride of lime, as it
is sometimes called, is made by the combina-
tion of chlorine gas with slaked lime. The
virtue lies in the gas, the lime being merely
the vehicle by which it is held, and conveyed
from the chemical works to the paper mill.

The chlorine gas is of a greenish color and
very deleterious in its effects on the human

36 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

system; its manufacture is attended with con-
siderable danger to the men employed there-
in; and notwithstanding all the precautions
used, men are often asphyxiated by it; a
strong dose will kill a man in one hour.

Nearly all of the bleaching powder used in
America and Canadian mills is imported from
England. It is made chiefly at Widnes in
Lancashire, and at New Castle-upon-Tyne, in
Northumberland. It is invariably made up in
barrels, containing about seven cwt. each, and
is sold at 2,240 Ibs. to the ton.

The packing of these barrels at the works is
a dangerous occupation, and men employed in
this class of labor do not live out half their
days. They take the precaution to cover their
eyes with colored goggles and their mouths
and noses with thick flannel, yet, in spite of all
these precautions, they get it on their lungs to
the detriment of their health. No class of la-
bor can be more injurious to the human sys-
tem than this, and to show its effect on vege-
table life as well, it may be stated that at
Windes, in Lancashire, where this business is
carried on almost exclusively, there is not a
vestige of grass, trees or hedges to be seen for
at least a couple of miles around the town, the

PAPER MAKING. 37

whole district having a "Sodom and Gomor-
rah" kind of appearance.

When these barrels of bleaching powder ar-
rive at the mill, they should invariably be
placed under cover, where they can be kept
perfectly dry.

The chlorine gas in a dry state possesses no
bleaching properties; it is only when it is
mixed with water that it becomes liberated
and operative, so that when casks get wet a
certain amount of chlorine is lost by evapora-
tion.

The most effectual, as well as most econom-
ical mode of mixing bleach is to have a large
iron tank capable of holding say. 1.200 gallons
of water, when filled to within a foot of the
top. This tank should be furnished with an
agitator very like that used in a stuff chest.
When the water is in the tank and everything
ready, a cask of bleach should be opened, and
just as quickly as it is possible to do it, the
powder should be overturned into the tank of
water. It should not be taken out of the bar-
rel by a spadeful at a time, as is very often
done, for this gives the chlorine gas every
chance to escape, and it will do so in consider-
able quantities, at a loss to the mill owner, and

38 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

injury to the health of whoever may be work-
ing in the room. When the wind serves, the
fumes of the gas will sometimes be carried
through the entire mill if the tank is supplied
with bleach in a loose or slovenly manner.

The agitator should always be set to work
before the bleaching powder is emptied, so as
to prevent it from settling down at the bottom
of the tank in lumps, and the agitation should
be kept up for two or three hours. When the
liquor has been allowed to settle until it is per-
fectly clear, it may be siphoned off into sepa-
rate tanks for after use in bleaching stock; and
it is always well to provide a number of these
auxiliary tanks, so that there will always be
sufficient bleach on hand, and also that the
lime, if any is left, may have every facility for
further precipitation.

Bleaching powder is generally sold as con-
taining 35 per cent of chlorine, so that the
casks of seven cwt. contain only 35 per cent of
bleaching element.

As to the strength at which bleach should
be used, opinions will differ. The strength of
the bleach should, however, be regulated by
the work it has to do. If the fibres to be
bleached are of a soft and open nature, and

PAPER MAKING. 39

not particularly dirty, a strength of 4° Twad-
dle will be found sufficient, and more than 6°
Twaddle should seldom, if ever, be used on
any kind of fibre.

Going back to the mixing tank it will be
found that after the liquor is drawn off there
will be a thick deposit of lime mud at the bot-
tom of the tank. This should not be thrown
away, but, as there is in it considerable un-
spent gas, fresh water should be added and a
new agitation begun. This liquor will neces-
sarily be weak, sometimes as low as i° or
il/2° Twaddle. It is at this point, however,
that the science of preparing bleach comes in.
In the first "brew" the strength may, in fact
will, exceed that of the "working strength" at
which the mill is using it, hence the opportun-
ity afforded of mixing with it some of the
weaker liquor, so as to bring it down to one
uniform Twaddle.

If the preparing of the bleach is left in the
hands of one man who is careful, throwing his
heart and soul into his work, he will get into
the way of doing this without any trouble or
difficulty whatever.

As to the quantity of bleaching liquor to be
used in an engine, that must be regulated b>

40 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

circumstances, and the nature of the stock to
be bleached. In no case is it wise to hurry the
bleaching process; it is more economical and
effective in its working operation, if plenty of
time is allowed for the bleaching.

In some mills, hard pressed in the prepara-
tion of the stuff, it is not unusual to use bleach
at a greater strength than that above recom-
mended, but this, as a rule, is injurious to the
fibre, and should be avoided.

It will be found that when bleach has ap-
parently exhausted itself in the engine that to
warm up the contents of the engine with a jet
of steam will give a spurt to the bleach and
thoroughly exhaust all its powers. This should
not be resorted to too frequently on account
of the cost of steam so used.

To avoid the labor of mixing bleach accord-
ing to the plans before recommended, some
mills, making a low grade of paper, adopt the
plan of putting the bleaching powder right in-
to the engine. This is not only a dirty proc-
ess, but wasteful as well, and should never be
done.

PAPER MAKING.

CHAPTER VI.

RECOVERY OF SODA ASH.

"It is the pluck, the bull-dog tenacity of purpose
and stubbornness of perseverance, that wins the bat-
tle, whether fought in the field, in the mart, or in
the paper mill."

One of the economies of paper making is
that of the recovery of the soda ash used for
boiling stock, by which in some large con-
cerns thousands of dollars may be saved in the
course of a year. Prior to the introduction of
this useful invention this was simply wasted.

After boiling, sometimes with a very strong
solution of soda liquor, it was the custom, be-
fore proceeding to empty the boiler, and after
the stock was supposed to be properly
"cooked," to let off the liquor by means of a
valve underneath the boiler. This liquor,
generally about the color and consistency of
black molasses, and all the darker when stock
was oily or dirty from other causes, was dis-

43 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

charged into the river to the great pollution
thereof, rendering the water for miles below
unfit for cattle to drink or human beings to
use for any purpose whatever.

This was, of course, a great waste of money,
which the profits on paper-making in these
days could not tolerate for one moment. "Ne-
cessity," the mother of invention, came to the
scene, and we have now several inventions on
the market, the special object of which is to
recover the soda from the liquor after it has
done its work in boiling the stock.

The "process" is that of evaporation. The
liquor is boiled, or to use the technical phrase
of the makers, is "roasted," until the liquor is
all evaporated, and the solid ash left behind
for use again in the boiling of stock, the usual
plan being to use about one half of the origi-
nal ash, to one half the recovered ash.

The expense of doing this, in comparison
with the results, is very reasonable, and con-
sists mainly in the cost of the coal consumed,
the labor, a small amount for repairs, and the
natural wear and tear of the evaporating ap-
paratus itself, which is only trivial in amount.

One of these inventions which was recently
inspected, was said to be evaporating 37 tons

PAPER MAKING.

43

of water by the consumption of one ton of
coal; and that the quantity of coal consumed
did not average more than 1,176 Ibs. for every
ton — 2,240 Ibs. of ash recovered. The labor
involved was the wages of one man to two sets
of apparatus; which would of course, in the
result, double the figures we have just given.
Another advantage is, that by means of the
recovery process, a large quantity of hot dis-
tilled water is obtained, which can be used
with great effect for the washing of the stock
after boiling; thus helping, and that most ef-
fectually, to get rid of all the dirty liquor left
in the stock, and reducing the labor of wash-
ing it afterwards in the rag washers.

44

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER VII.

USING OLD PAPERS.

"It is almost impossible to exaggerate the won-
ders that may be wrought in a brief lifetime by in-
tense and persistent labor urged on by an iron will."

Whatever may be the staple of stock used
for paper making, every paper maker has to
use up a vast amount of "broken." To use up
"broken" in its own make is not a very diffi-
cult matter. The paper has simply to be put
back into the beaters and a certain amount of
"strong stuff" — whether rag, rope or sulphite
wood, all depends upon the kind of paper
made — added thereto. Let the engine of stuff
be colored as required to match the regular
run; and there you are!

Using up the "broken" as quickly as it is
made keeps both machine and beater room
clean of all accumulations, and also prevents
the said broken from becoming a receptacle
for dust and rubbish of all kinds.

PAPER MAKING.

45

This, however, is a very different thing to
the use of paper stock — "waste papers" as.
they are technically called in the trade — and
which some mills, making an unknown grade
of book papers, run on almost exclusively; in
fact, with the exception of a little sulphite for
strengthening purposes, use nothing else.

"Waste papers" consist of almost "every-
thing," but chiefly of old books, pamphlets,
cast-off official documents, paper shavings,
and the like, for which there is a regular and
increasing demand.

Just, then, how to treat this kind of stock to
the best advantage, is a matter of considerable
interest to the users of it ; and a few hints as to
a good mode of dealing with it may not be out
of place.

There are, of course, various grades of this
kind of material. Some of it is very common
and can be bought very cheaply, and cheaply
because of being common and dirty. We,
however, refer to the average quality, that is,
stock that is neither very common nor very
dirty. Xo matter what the stock may be in a
general way, it is not safe to use it without be-
ing carefully examined; and this is best done
over a lattice, much after the style of rag sort-

46 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ing. For in the best regulated establishments,
refuse of various kinds will get into stock
while lying about in warehouses; and in sort-
ing it is not unusual to find hard substances
in both wood and iron, to say nothing of pins,
needles and all sorts of things imaginable,
which would produce disastrous consequences
if allowed to go forward in the process of
manufacture.

But another, and infinitely worse enemy
than those already enumerated, is that of
printer's ink. Where dealers receive stock of
this kind from printers and publishers it is not
unusual, but, on the contrary, very common,
to find lumps of ink insidiously wrapped up in
paper. Some printer's "P. D." has been clean-
ing an ink table, which he has scraped with a
knife, and then wiped the dirty ink on paper,
which he has afterwards rolled up and thrown
amongst the "office waste," to be afterwards
sold to the material merchant. If the said "P.
D." would just throw this refuse into a recep-
tacle to be afterwards used for kindling fires,
he would confer a great benefit on the paper
maker; for it takes a very little of the said
printer's ink, when once it gets into the beater,
to spoil a whole engine of stuff. Or if it

PAPER MAKING. 47

should go forward in ever so small a quantity,
a piece the size of a very small marble is suf-
ficient to spoil many hundred sheets of paper.

But this is not all. If the ink is in the stuff,
it will insidiously work itself into the meshes
of the wire and dandy, marking every sheet of
paper made, and will, moreover, smear and
dirty both jacket and felts.

It is sufficient in all conscience for the pa-
per maker to "kill" the ink contained in the
letter press and engravings of the papers he
has to deal with, without having trouble with
it in bulk through the carelessness or indiffer-
ence of printers' assistants.

If papers are clean, that is, purely white pa-
pers or shavings containing no printed matter
whatever, then the beaterman may succeed in
pulping these by simply putting them in his
engine and turning on the steam until they are
sufficiently well pulped to go to the machine.
But where papers are covered with letter-press
or engravings, or both, it is absolutely neces-
sary to have them boiled with a solution of
soda ash and lime, the latter being slightly in
excess of the other.

A caustic liquor of this kind has a very salu-
tary effect upon the stock. It so kills and so

48 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

softens the ink as to render its subsequent
elimination, by washing, a very easy process.

Another mode of treating stock of this kind
is to pass it through a digester. This is a con-
ical shaped piece of mechanism very like a
Jordan engine, the plug or drum of which is
studded with spikes, which revolve between
other spikes of a like kind fixed on either side
of the digester.

This machine is driven at a high rate of
speed, the waste papers being passed through
it in their dry state as they come from the
duster. A small steam pipe, as well as a pipe
injecting hot caustic liquor, are inserted into
the digester, and thus the papers are knocked
about as in a revolving washing machine; are
torn limb from limb, and in this way the ink
is softened, and is afterwards very easily
washed out in the rag washers.

From stock of this kind and so treated we
have seen some very beautifully clean paper
made. The addition of some 15 or 20 per cent
of sulphite to stock so prepared will also make
a strong paper and one that will take a good
finish at the end of the machine.

PAPER MAKING. 49

CHAPTER VIII.

PREPARATION OF STOCK.

"The grandest results cannot be achieved in a
day: the fruits that are best worth plucking usually
ripen the most slowly."

One of the most important departments of
a paper mill is the beater room. It is here
that the paper is really made, and its ultimate
character determined. A skillful and scien-
tific beaterman is invaluable to a paper man-
ufacturer, and when he gets a good one he '"ill
not want to part with him. Everything De-
pends upon the proper treatment of the stock
in the engine as to the quality and appearance
of the sheet when it comes out at the end of
the machine: and it is almost impossible to
have the beatermen too greatly impressed
with the fact that on them, and their proper
manipulation of the stock, successful paper
making depends.

Many and varied improvements have been

£0 HELP '8 TO PROFITABLE

made in the beating engine during the last
quarter of a century, but it yet remains an
open question as to what kind is best adapted
for the purpose. For book and writing pa-
pers engines carrying from 400 to 500 pounds,
traveling at from 160 to 180 revolutions of the
roll a minute, have invariably been found to
be most efficient in the preparation of half-
stuff for the machine.

In former times beating engines were made
much smaller than they are to-day ; and it was
no uncommon thing to go into some of the
best book and writing mills in the country and
find the stuff being beaten in engines carrying
no more than 200 pounds driven at a speed of
220 to 240 revolutions a minute. Some of the
very best mills in Scotland, where the highest
grade of writing papers in the world are made,
use these small engines.

The advantage of using small engines is
considerable. The stuff makes its circuit of
the engine in considerably less time, so that it
passes under the roll more frequently than in
the larger and more elaborate beater, carrying
two or three times the amount, but traveling
at a slower rate.

In beating stock two things are necessary

PAPER V1A7 V , 5I

and should never be lost sight of, that is, to
have the stock so beaten as to secure the ex-
act quality of the paper being made; and to
do this with a minimum of power.

In order to do this most effectually, the
tackle should be kept sharp and in perfect
working order. The object of the beaterman
is not to chop up the stuff, but to brush it out
carefully, without injury to the fibres he may
be using, and if his roll bars and bottom plate
be in fair working order he may do this with
the least expenditure of power as compared
with what he would require in a larger engine
and with a tackle in an indifferent state.
Where the engines are large, carrying 1,000
or 1,200 pounds and in some cases more, it is
not always convenient to stop one of them for
repairs even when the tackle is defective.

Another advantage of using smaller beaters
— 400 to 500 pounds — is that you may get a
more uniform drive. Even-thing depends up-
on uniformity as to beating where the engines
are large, and few in number, because if large,
there will be considerable variation in the
speed of the drive, especially where the power
is not in excess of the requirements of the
beater room. Two or three rolls down at the

^2 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

same time in these large beaters will be suffi-
cient to "pull up" the steam engine; and this
reduction in speed is very inimical to the suc-
cess of the beating being carried on in any of
the other beating engines. Where the engines
are small the variation in driving will not be
felt, as one or two rolls down or up will not
affect the speed of the drive.

These, of course, are points which every pa-
per-maker has to determine for himself, in
which he will have to be guided to a large ex-
tent by the nature of the paper he wants to
make. If making news, for example, and sim-
ply using wood pulp, say a mixture of sulphite
and ground wood, a larger beater may answer
his purpose -better. It carries more stuff, and
in some cases does not require filling so often
as a smaller engine ; and when emptied makes
a more appreciable addition to the stuff chest.
It, moreover, does not require the same power
as an engine beating rags or any other de-
scription of hard stock.

Before the refining engines were intro-
duced, a beaterman's duties were considerably
more onerous and responsible than they are
to-day. At that time he had to prepare the
stock in a much more careful manner or it

PAPER UAKIXG.

53

would not have passed the screens. An en-
gine could not be let down to the stuff chest
until the fibres had been reduced to a uniform
length; hence the absolute necessity of keep-
ing his tackle in good order; and this he could
only do by constantly watching the condition
of his roll-bars and engine-plate.

It is a mistake, however, in mills where the
refining engines may be used, to expect that
they should do all the beating themselves.
The inventors of these modern pieces of mech-
anism never intended, and never put them for-
ward as capable of doing all the beating them-
selves. They designed them merely as refin-
ers of the stock, and completing in a more un-
iform manner the treatment of the stock in the
engine. Care should, therefore, be taken to
have the stuff very uniformly beaten before it
is let down to the refining engine, otherwise
the irregularity of beating will be observable
in the paper, especially in the finer grades of
book and writing papers.

If a beaterman carry out the suggestions
herein made, the fibers will not only be fine,
but very uniform and regular in length, and
will felt and unite more closely under the
shake of the wire, producing a stronger and

54

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

finer grade of paper. Paper so made will car-
ry a much larger amount of clay or other fill-
ing, as in closing up these fine fibres the clay
will be retained and not allowed to escape
through the meshes of the machine wire, giv-
ing the paper all the time the appearance of a
close and well-felted sheet.

Another advantage of manipulating the
stock in the uniform and regular manner rec-
ommended will be that the stuff will pass
through the screens more easily, and thus
save all the labor of having to scrape the face
of the screen plates so frequently, which can
never be done without damage to the paper,
necessitating the abstraction of a goodly num-
ber of sheets where it comes to be cut and
sorted.

The most difficult and important thing a
beaterman has to do is that of beating two or
three kinds of stock in the same engine. This
will often tax his skill and ingenuity. The en-
gine, for example, may contain a mixture of
soft and hard stock, one being used for
strength and the other as a mere filler. In a
case like this, if the softer fibre be the larger
element of the two, the roll should be worked
easy; but if the hard stock represents the

PAPER MAKING.

55

greatest bulk of the contents of the engine,
then the roll may be put down a little harder.
The soft fibre will, of course, be beaten finer,
but this will not deteriorate the quality of pa-
per, as it will help to fill up the interstices, so
to speak, of the stronger and coarser fibre and
thus help to secure a close and well-felted
sheet.

A word or two as to the furnishing of en-
gines. As soon as the stuff is all in, the clay
and alum may be added, thus giving every op-
portunity for their absorption by the stock.
An hour, say, before letting down the engine
the color may be added and the size half an
hour afterwards. It is a great mistake for
beatermen to put in the size before the color-
ing matter. The size needs to permeate the
stock before it can be of any value; and if the
size is allowed to get first hold of the stuff, the
coloring matter will not have the chance of
doing its work. It would be just as absurd as
a painter varnishing his wood before staining
it, and equally as useless.

It is impossible to notice all the points of a
beaterman's duty in order to produce the best
results. The engines should be well stirred up
throughout the beating to prevent the stuff

56 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

lodging, as it will frequently do, producing all
kinds of inequality in the paper when made.
Too much stress also cannot be laid upon the
absolute necessity of keeping the engine well
washed off and everything clean about it.

PAPER

57

CHAPTER IX.

HOW TO DRY PAPER.

"Life is a warfare: it. too, has its decisive mo-
ments, when success or failure, victory or defeat,
must hinge upon our reserved power."

"A thousand and one things" go to make up
a good sheet of paper, and a proper system ot
drying is one of them. To a machine man
who enters heart and soul into his business,
and who goes about his duties in an intelligent
and workman-like manner, his ambition being
to make the best sheet of paper possible out of
the resources at his disposal, it is a source of
the greatest disappointment to find that his
stuff is not just right, that it has been scamped
in the beaters, crushed probably, instead of
drawn; or it may have been so irregularly
beaten as to be unable to pass through the
screens, and so prevent his making the kind of
a sheet he would like. All this is very annoy-
ing to the machine man who is bent on doing

58 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

his work efficiently; but when everything else
is just right, and the stuff flowing as he
"would like it," then comes the machine man's
opportunity for employing his skill and inge-
nuity to make the best sheet that his machine
will admit of. A faithful machine man feels
his responsibility, and will put forth every ef-
fort to accomplish his purpose. He has to
regulate the flow of his stuff, to close of the
sheet, to see that it is not being damaged in
transit by any imperfections in wire or dandy,
and last, but not least, to see that his paper
scales the exact weight he is wishing to make
All these things have to be done. Then comes
perhaps the most important of all — that of
drying the paper, for unless this is properly
done, it is of very little moment what else is
neglected. Drying paper is a scientific opera-
tion and needs a good deal of tact and skill.
This work is left to a nondescript individual
called a "drierman," who is not always the
most intelligent person.

In some mills, the machine man feels that
he has done his duty when the paper passes
through the first press, and is often disposed
to leave the second process to his drierman.
This is a mistake. The machine man is re-

PAPER MAKING.

59

sponsible for the work of his machine, the
drierman is simply his assistant. A machine
man who takes a pride in his work and feels
his responsibility, will be just as attentive to
the proper and efficient drying of the sheet as
to its formation on the wire, and if his assist-
ant is lacking in ability to do the work, he will
instruct him.

To a certain extent, the drying of paper is
a mechanical operation but one which needs
to be watched with care and vigilance. Much
of the success of effective drying depends upon
the felts and how they are arranged. The
usual practice is to run one felt along the
whole of the top cylinders, and another on the
bottom, these felts extending all the way from
the press end of the machine to the calenders,
and covering, as the size of the machine may
require, some eight or ten cylinders each.

These felts have to take the paper when it
comes from the second press in its damp state
and convey it to the end. As a natural conse-
quence both felts become very damp. They
are expected, however, to dry the paper all the
same. This is most unwise as well as unrea-
sonable. In the first place, the felt itself will
soon become worn out from being first wet,

6o I1KLPS TO PROFITABLE

then dry; and in the second place, the felt it-
self will never be uniform in its condition of
dampness or dryness. The result will be that
the paper will not be dried evenly and the cal-
enders will not give a uniform finish. The
tension of the paper will also be affected there-
by. It is, moreover, most unreasonable to ex-
pect that the felt which takes the paper at the
wet end of the machine and is filled with moist-
ure, should be capable of drying the sheet
right up to the calenders where the process of
drying becomes of chiefest importance.

The proper way to dry paper on the ma-
chine, and to do it effectively is to divide off
the cylinders into sections. Take a machine,
for example, of eighteen cylinders, say eight
at the top and ten below. The first and second
four at the top should be covered with separate
felts; and the first and second five at the bot-
tom, should each have a felt to themselves. In
the case of news machines, all these felts may
be made of cotton, but for book and writing
papers the second drying felt, top and bottom,
should be woolen, from the use of which much
better results may be obtained, especially in
the item of finish.

To remedy, as far as possible, the disastrous

PAPER MAKING. 6l

effects which continued dampness has upon
the felts, it is common to run one drying cylin-
der above and below free of paper, so as to dry
the felt. It is also coming to be the practice,
in erecting a new paper machine, to place one
or two 3-feet cylinders above and below the
top and bottom driers, for the express purpose
of drying the felts. This is all very well on a
news machine. They will do some good, but
the benefit is very limited owing to the speed
at which the machine is driven.

The plan above recommended is by far the
best for drying papers on machines making
book and writings, or any other of the higher
grades of paper equivalent in quality thereto.
The semi-dampness of the first dry felts — top
and bottom — has a tendency to prevent cock-
ling, or the sheet getting "pindered" by sud-
den contact with the hot cylinders; and the
woolen felts on the second half of the machine
will complete the drying process most effect-
ually.

There is another matter in connection with
the drying of paper which is of the utmost im-
portance, and that is in respect to the use of
steam. The usual practice is to turn on the
steam into the whole of the cvlinders from one

62 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

valve, thus giving uniform heat and pressure
in each cylinder. This may do on news ma-
chines but for making nice book and writing
papers it is a great mistake. Machines on
these papers never drive very fast, say an aver-
age of from 80 to 100 feet per minute, and the
paper should be dried by a gradation of heat.
The first drier should run naked, and not be
kept more than warm. It is common to see
the first cylinder of a machine covered as with
white fur. This is the result of running a damp
sheet over a scalding hot cylinder. It destroys
the surface of the paper. For drying the
classes of paper just mentioned, the drying cyl-
inders should increase in temperature as the
paper proceeds down the machine. This can
easily be done by means of a valve on each sep-
arate drier. The great advantage of this mode
is that you get a finer and stronger paper,
more uniform in every way. A paper so dried
will also take a better finish when it goes
through the calenders.

The plan recommended may be new to
many, but if any one doubts its feasibility and
efficacy, let him try it and he will be well
pleased with the result.

PAPER

CHAPTER X.

THE FINISHING ROOM.

"It is money or rather the want of it, which
makes men workers."

The finishing room is a most important part
of a paper mill's operations, and one requiring
no small amount of skill to manage it properly
and profitably. This remark applies more par-
ticularly to the finishing room of a book or
writing mill, where the paper is done up in
reams, and not in rolls as in the case of news.

In the finishing room of a book or writing
mill the paper has first to be cut into sheets,
then sorted, that is, defective sheets extracted
therefrom, and afterwards counted into quires,
and the quires made up into reams and bundles
ready for shipment to customers.

These duties must all be attended to with
the utmost care, or trouble is sure to follow.
The good name of a mill often gets ruined by

64 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

the loose and s'ovenly manner in which the
paper has been "done up" in the finishing
room. If paper is sent into the market incor-
rectly counted, badly sorted or badly tied up,
the maker is sure to have to pay the penalty in
allowances to the customer. And it is next to
impossible to deceive these gentlemen, for in
most paper warehouses, experts are kept
whose dnty it is to examine each lot of paper
as it comes in from the mill and to report to
their principals any defects they may find,
which can only be condoned by a monetary
allowance on the lot. This is often, it is true,
very reluctantly conceded, but it is done as a
matter of policy, rather than lose a good order
or a permanent customer.

Book papers require to be very carefully
sorted before being made up into reams, all
the foul and imperfect sheets need to be elim-
inated, for nothing can be more objectionable
when turning over the leaves of a good and
well-printed book than to discover one of those
inevitable "dobs," as they are sometimes
called, occasioned by a clot of pulp falling
from the screens, which gets enlarged a thou-
sand times, as it is were, by the extra calender-
ing which most book papers receive at the end

PAPER MAKING, 65

of the machine. In addition to this defect,
thick and thin sheets will often get into a ream
of paper if care is not exercised, and these
spoil any book, but especially works of an ex-
pensive character. Imperfect sheets of all sorts
will often pass through the printing press un-
seen, but when discovered by the publisher
will create no end of trouble and annoyance.
It should, therefore, be the object of the paper
maker to avoid these, but how is it to be done?
It can only be done in one way, and that one
the most natural and easy of accomplishment.
When paper is cut off in sheets at the cutter,
it is next to impossible to deduct any defective
sheets at that stage. Five or six rolls — some-
times more — will be placed in the cutter at one
time, and as these are being cut into sheets,
no amount of skill or watchfulness can see
what defects there are in the sheets underneath
the one on top; and if the paper should get
made up into reams with no closer examina-
tion or supervision than this, there is no won-
der that customers sHbuld find imperfect paper
in the reams when afterwards opened out and
examined in their own warehouse. "The cut-
ter girls" cannot possibly "take off" and sort
the paper at the same time. They have, more-

66 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

over, quite as much as they can do in watch-
ing the upper sheet, and in "evening up" the
paper as it falls on the table.

The cutting of paper is a mechanical opera-
tion, and should not be regarded otherwise
than as such. As the paper is cut off at the
cutter it should be piled in a heap on a truck,
and then wheeled into the finishing room, to
be there examined and sorted in a proper and
business-like way. This is best done on
benches by young women who are experts at
the job. They will sort it sheet by sheet, tak-
ing out every sheet that is in any way defect-
ive. A young woman accustomed to this class
of work will go through a ream of paper in a
very short time, and do it in such a way that
will defy any of the "paper experts/' employed
by paper merchants, from rinding anything
wrong when it should come under their critical
supervision.

The expense of sorting paper in this way is
not so great as at first may appear. The man-
agement of the cutter is usually done by the
machine tender's assistant, and the "flying" of
the sheets is performed by boys and small
girls at small wages. There is a great saving
effected by this system of sorting. Under the

PAPER UAKiyG. 67

present system, a defective sheet, when de-
tected, is thrown out and carried away as
"broken." But where the paper is sorted upon
a bench, the imperfect sheets are treated some-
what differently. Those sheets that are but
slightly imperfect are kept in one pile, and used
at the tops and bottoms of the reams, where
they are afterwards found by the printer and
used as proof sheets, or they are made in sep-
arate reams and sold at a small reduction on
the price of paper.

In sorting small paper, sheets badly defect-
ive are thrown out, but where large paper is
being sorted, and a defect should appear at the
edge of the sheet only, these sheets should be
afterwards cut into any convenient size and
resorted. In this way the defective paper is re-
duced to a minimum.

The makers of book and writing papers
would find a great advantage in this system.
They would turn out their paper in a way that
would please their customers, and at little or
no increase of cost. This mode of doing the
work does it effectually: the present way of
sorting the paper professes to do it, but does
not.

68 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER XI.

THE MACHINE SHOP.

"It is the appetizing provocative that teases the
business nerve of more than half the world."

One of the most useful departments about a
paper mill is that of the machine shop, in
which we include the millwright, the black-
smith, the pipe fitter, the carpenter, with all
their necessary assistants. In fact, we very
much doubt if any mill could get along for
more than twenty-four hours or so, without
this absolutely necessary adjunct for keeping
up repairs.

Necessary and useful as this branch of a
mill's organization undoubtedly is, there is not
a shadow of doubt but that it is one requiring
more than ordinary skill in the management
thereof; and if not under the immediate super-
vision of a good and conscientious foreman,

PAPER

69

may prove a source of considerable expense,
more than is necessary, to keep it going.

Repairs and breakdowns of one sort and an-
other will occur from day to day and from
week to week, and the object of an efficient
staff should be to get these adjusted in the
most effective manner, and in the smallest pos-
sible period of time.

In order to do this effectually, not a mo-
ment of time should be lost in making a start.
Every other job should be thrown aside until
the repair job is complete, and the machinery
again in motion.

Another way to facilitate matters is to have
everything in a state of readiness. A practical
man will soon learn what kind of fittings are
necessary to keep in stock for the purpose of
repairs, and will not have to waste time in
looking for anything he may require, but will
know just where to lay his hand upon it at the
right moment.

He will, moreover, have the forethought to
keep duplicates of any bracket, wheel or pul-
ley, or other piece of mechanism that may re-
quire renewing from time to time through or-
dinary wear and tear. This will apply in par-

70 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ticular to pumps and other important auxili-
aries in connection with the feeding of the ma-
chine with stuff, and which are so often in the
habit of giving out at the most inopportune
moments. A discreet foreman will see to tile-
preparation of all these matters at a time when
his men are not absolutely employed on re-
pairs, thus keeping up the regularity and uni-
formity of the employment in the shop.

Then again, no mill of any size or impor-
tance should be without a night mechanic to
be ready on hand in case of any kind of break-
down, the "giving out" of pump, or other dis-
aster involving stoppage of machinery. The
old fashioned notion used to be, in case of a
break-down in the night, to run, sometimes
long distances, and waste ever so much valu-
able time in arousing a sleeping millwright to
come and do the "fixing up." All this loss of
time would be saved by keeping a millwright
upon the premises during the night tour,
whose time, in the absence of repairs, could be
usefully employed in some turning-up or fit-
ting job. A great amount of time is often lost
in the night tour where no such provision as
that above indicated is made for repairs, by
the machine tender having to do them himself,

MAKING.

f

which he will sometimes do rather than send
for a millwright.

The far-seeing foreman millwright will al-
ways be on the look-out for indications of
weakness in any portion of the machinery un-
der his supervision, and will often save time
and expense by the anticipation, so to speak,
of a breakdown. The proverbial "stitch-in-
time" is a wonderful helper in saving needless
expense through loss of time.

In the same way, he will, during the week,
take cognizance of any jobs that want doing,
such as leaking steam joints and fittings, which
can be repaired only when the machinery is
stopped and steam turned off, and which series
of repair jobs are generally reserved for Sun-
clay. But the conscientious foreman who has
the interest of his master at heart, will not
needlessly multiply these Sunday jobs in order
to employ men at double their ordinary rate
of wages, for which men of greed and no prin-
ciple are always ready "to work on the Sun-
day."

In this way, and with proper supervision,
the staff of machinists may be reduced to a
minimum of expense, and if good men are em-
ployed, and carry out the motto of the hustling

72 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

parson, who enjoined his flock "to be at it, all
at it, and always at it," our paper mills would
be kept up in a state of greater efficiency, and
at a considerable reduction of expenditure in
respect to repairs.

PAPER MAKING.

73

CHAPTER XII.

CONTROL OF A PAPER MILL.

"The owner of capital really reaps the smallest
portion of the advantages which flow from its pos-
session, he being, in fact, but a kind of head book-
keeper, or chief clerk, to the business community."

A paper mill is like a steamship — everything
depends upon the man in charge. To navi-
gate a vessel in safety across the Atlantic
ocean, requires a man of skill and energy and
a paper mill equally needs a man of like calibre
to steer it clear of all shoals, quicksands and
hidden rocks upon which shipwreck may be,
and often is, made. The success of any busi-
ness depends upon the management and a
paper mill is no exception. Businesses are
often started under the most favorable aus-
pices, with every prospect of a successful ca-
reer, but owing to the ignorance or stupidity
of those in control, have ended in failure.

If the history of some mills could be written

74 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

it would make a useful book of reference for
the guidance of those who have the control of
many industrial enterprises, and in this respect
also, that of the paper-making industry would
be no exception. What a revelation it would
unfold! Many reasons of a secondary char-
acter might be assigned for the cause of fail-
ure, but these would all be traceable directly
or indirectly to the want of skill, the lack of
energy, or the utter ignorance or gross inca-
pacity of the man in control. It too often hap-
pens, unfortunately, that before all this is
found out the mischief has been done and the
business irretrievably ruined.

Companies are formed, money freely sub-
scribed and everything seems to promise suc-
cess, as well as a good dividend. Operations
are begun, but quarter after quarter and half-
year after half-year goes by and there is still
no dividend, but what is worse — a considera-
ble loss on the working of the business. Things
have often arrived at this stage before any seri-
ous inquiry has been made as to the causes of
these disastrous effects.

After a good deal of circumvention, the di-
rectors come to the conclusion that they have
the wrong man in control, and that all their

PAPER MAKING. 75

troubles, anxieties and losses are traceable to
this man's want of skill and experience in the
management of the business entrusted to him.
Under his supervision the business has been
gradually but surely going back, the capital
being wasted, and everybody vexed and disap-
pointed.

A good deal of this may be avoided by do-
ing the right thing at the beginning. Boards
of directors are not often composed of the
most harmonious individuals. Men invest
money in stock companies, and it is often the
man who invests most who has the best chance
of being made a director. His money is his
only qualification, unfortunately. He may be
devoid of capacity for the management of any
ordinary business, much less that of a critical
and important business like that of paper-mak-
ing. If the board of directors is composed of
intelligent and shrewd men of business, men of
varied experience in commercial pursuits, they
may get along safely if they will only, at the
very outset, take the precaution to get hold
of the right man, to whom they can with con-
fidence entrust the control of the mill.

Men possessing such qualifications as are
necessary for the successful manipulation of a

76 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

large business are born — not made. A man
should have a good deal of natural talent for
this kind of work. He must, moreover, be a
man of high class business ability, of great
energy of character, a superior amount of
moral courage, a great knowledge of human
nature and how to deal with it to the best ad-
vantage. He should be eminently trustworthy
and reliable in every particular, a very good
disciplinarian and have a thorough knowledge
of the theory and practice of paper-making.

Such a man at the head of a paper mill is a
tower of strength; the business is safe in his
hands and he will take care to have about him,
as sub-lieutenants, men who are likewise
minded. He will direct and control all the
movements of his subordinates, for he will ever
feel his personal responsibility for the success
of the concern. It is, therefore, absolutely nec-
essary that the man in supreme command
should be one who, figuratively speaking,
stands head and shoulders above his fellows,
in ability and knowledge of the business so
that those under his control will respect, and
have confidence in him.

A good manager will seek to have good sub-
ordinates, from the superintendent downwards

PAPER MAKING. 77

— men who are loyal to their employer's inter-
ests in every detail and to whom the commands
of the manager are as law and gospel. When
a mill has the good fortune to be thus manned,
it will — all things being equal — be able to hold
its own, and not only hold its own, but will
pay fair dividends. Everything in and around
the mill will work smoothly and harmoniously
together.

78 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER XIII.

CONTROL OF WORKPEOPLE.

"One of the most important lessons to be learned
by every man who would get on in his calling, is the
art of economizing his time."

In years gone by, there are few things, com-
paratively speaking, that have given more
anxiety than the control of labor, and paper-
makers have not been an exception. The
workingman in those past ages was not treated
nor looked upon by his employer as he is in
the present day; nor was the working man
himself so disposed to listen to reason and
common sense as now. He was inclined to re-
gard his employer as his natural enemy, much
in the same way as the slave used to look upon
the man who professed to have a property in
his body, and the right to command and en-
force his services in any class of labor to which
he might put him.

A change, however, has come over all this,

PAPER MAKING.

79

and things are not as they used to be. The
spread of education and the progress of civili-
zation has done much to bring about this
change; and the relations existing between
employers and help in all branches of industry
are placed on a higher and more equitable
basis. The workman on the one hand realizes
the vast power and influence for good which
the capital of the employer of labor possesses ;
whilst the capitalist recognizes the fact that
were it not for the "blood, bone and muscle"
of the workingman. his capital would not avail
him much in the accomplishment of any kind
of active business industry. With the two
combined a great amount of good may be
achieved to the mutual and lasting benefit of
each.

But, alas! Notwithstanding all the enlight-
ened progress we have made in the last quar-
ter of a century, there are some employers who
still have trouble with their workpeople, and
are ever given to a ''change of servants," which
involves a great amount of trouble, loss and
inconvenience in the control of a mill, besides,
as not unfrequently happens, the spoilage of a
great amount of work.

From one cause and another some employ-

80 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ers of labor never retain their help for any
great length of time; and the consequences of
these varying changes are very disastrous to
the successful working of a mill. As a rule,
mills such as these, both in this country and
in the United Kingdom, who "retain their
workpeople" longest are those that are most
successful. What, for example, could be more
injurious to the success of a paper mill, or of
any business, than the frequent change of the
superintendent? When a mill is not success-
ful, the proprietary will sometimes fancy that
they would no doubt do better with a fresh
man as superintendent, and a change is made
accordingly. The new man is for a time given
an opportunity to show what he can do. He
will introduce various kinds of alterations —
and alterations which are not always improve-
ments, in the mode of doing things, involving
expenditure of time, money and loss of out-
put; and when these prove non-successful and
the proprietary finds itself in a worse position
than before, another change is made, and in
many cases the same thing is repeated, ad lib-
itum; the effect being very disastrous to the
mill, as will be seen when the balance sheet

PAPER MAKING. gl

comes to be produced and shows loss instead
of profit.

The next evil to this is that of the frequent
changes in machine tenders and beatermen.
These are two of the most important positions
in a paper mill no matter what be the nature
of the paper made. Some mills have n repu-
tation for constant change of machinemen and
these are the mills, as a rule, that are least suc-
cessful in making profit. Of course, we are
not so unreasonable as to think that this is al-
ways the fault of the proprietary, for there are
good and bad machinemen; and the latter
travel about the country — especially young
men — very much as the "common tramp" with
the view to "seeing life," and having a "good
time." But, fortunately, all machinemen are
not troubled with these migratory propensities
and would remain in a good place were they
encouraged by a little pecuniary advancement.
Rather than do this, however, some employers
will let the best of help leave them, looking up-
on the rate of a machineman's wages like the
laws of the Medes and Persians which "alter-
eth not."

This is a great mistake, and one for which
many a paper maker has had to pay dearly.

82 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

When a machineman has got into the right
way of doing things and understands all the
peculiarities of his machine, and is producing a
good output — uniform in quantity and quality,
this is the kind of a man the owner of the mill
should seek to retain, and not let him leave his
services to go to one of his competitors for the
sake of a dollar or two more per week in his
wages.

The same argument applies to beatermen.
Many a mill is retarded in its progress and
kept back by the constant changes of its supe-
rior workmen. The make of paper also suffers
and the mill not unfrequently gets a bad name
in the market in consequence of these periodi-
cal changes in its workpeople, which ought to
be avoided, if owners and managers of mills
would study a little more the close relationship
between "cause"' and "effect."

What, then, is the remedy for all these?
Well, as a rule, it will be found that good mas-
ters make good servants. An employer who
systematically treats his workpeople in a se-
vere and haughty manner as if they were made
of "inferior clay" to himself, will soon find that
they will become "likewise minded," and their
service anything but a labor of love. On the

PAPER MAKING. 83

other hand, where he treats his workmen as
intelligent and rational beings, he will by that
means, and no other, obtain their faithful and
efficient services, and their personal good-will
as well. For such an employer a man will ex-
ert himself to the uttermost, and by precept
and example lead others to do the same.

Employers of labor should study a little
more the interests of their workpeople, pro-
mote everything necessary for their happiness
and comfort; when they have a good man
strive to keep him in spite of the competition
of others to obtain his services. In this way
they will find their reward in honest and faith-
ful service, by increasing the output, as well as
in a solid and substantial measure of material
prosperity; to say nothing of the respect and
good-will of those depending on them for their
daily bread.

84 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER XIV.

SOME HINDRANCES.

"A great many good men would double their in-
fluence if they could contrive to be less stiff and in-
elastic; if they would but put a hinge into their
necks and keep it well oiled."

A papermaker's life is not a bed of roses!
Few occupations are fraught with more anxi-
ety and worry. A thousand and one little
things go to make up the sum total of his trials
and difficulties. Possibly, the greatest trouble
of all is that of trying to carry on a trade with
insufficient capital. This in itself will hamper
and worry any tradesman in any business.
There are, however, other matters that go to
make trouble for the papermaker. For exam-
ple, if a man has to contend with an old mill—
a mill badly laid out in the first instance, and
furnished with old, as well as old fashioned
machinery, he cannot possibly expect to make

PAPER MAKING. 85

much headway, but will at the time be suffer-
ing loss, inconvenience and annoyance.

To be anything like successful in the pres-
ent state of the paper making industry, a man
must have a mill of modern construction, well
laid out in every department, and furnished
with the latest and most modern improvements
in respect to mechanism. This is absolutely
necessary.

The old mills, like old houses, are fast dying
out. It is true that larger fortunes have been
made in some of these old and antiquated
buildings than will ever be made again in pa-
per making, even in the large and modern
mills of the present day.

The old mills, as a rule, were very small as
compared with those of modern times. This,
of course, arose from the fact that the ma-
chines, and other appurtenances pertaining
to papermaking, were small and altogether in-
significant when compared to those of our own
day. We sometimes think it a great pity, that
in setting out some of the old towns, our fore-
fathers did not have the good sense and busi-
ness foresight to make their streets and alleys
wider; so that when hamlets became villages,
and villages towns, and towns merged into cit-

86 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ies, the loss and inconvenience of taking down
buildings to widen streets and create main
thoroughfares, might have been saved.

The same remark will apply to the erection
of paper mills. In years gone by our fore-
fathers did not seem to realize the rapid
strides and wonderful development a few years
would produce in the paper trade, and there-
fore did not erect their buildings accordingly.
The result has been that many old mills have
been taken down or abandoned and new ones
erected in their place, or extensive alterations
have been made to adapt them to the wants
and requirements of modern times. This has
not always been done in a business or work-
manlike manner, or with any regard to archi-
tectural consistency or appearance, but by the
addition of a wing here and there, or the put-
ting on of an additional story or two on build-
ings already existing.

It is just at this point where the difficulty of
working an old mill very often comes in. They
are, most of them, inconvenient in the extreme
for carrying on successful working operations,
and, of course, much more costly to manipu-
late from a wages point of view.

The old mills are further, a great hindrance

PAPER MAKIXG.

87

to successful paper making from the fact that
they are often very badly lighted; and being so
crowded with machinery, it is next to impos-
sible to keep them in the clean and orderly
condition they ought to be for making good
papers. Rubbish of all kinds, and pulp in ev-
ery state of putrefaction lies concealed in all
sorts of places and becomes very offensive and
injurious to health.

Humanly speaking, it seems impossible to
make good paper in a mill fraught with such
drawbacks as these. There is, however, little
doubt but that the inconvenience might be
very greatly lessened if there were more re-
gard paid to cleanliness. Dirty materials have
sometimes to be worked, but it does not follow
that filth and dirt are to be lying about the
floor of the mill all through the week. There
is no necessity for it and certainly no justifica-
tion for the existence of such.

In mills such as those described where the
space is limited, the ceilings low, and the light
inadequate and imperfect, not only does the
machinery sometimees get very dirty and
bearings clogged with all kinds of grit and
rubbish, but the lubrication gets seriously neg-
lected, or only very partially attended to; the

gg HELPS TO PROFITABLE

result being that the paper making proper suf-
fers in every conceivable shape and form, and
the cost of driving is very greatly increased.

Mills like these are a great source of anxiety
to those who are responsible for the running of
them. It is impossible to get either quality or
quantity where the working operations are
confined within such narrow limits, with im-
perfect light, defective ventilation, and all sur-
roundings clogged with so much filth and dirt.
It is in mills such as these where the ma-
chinery is everlastingly breaking down or get-
ting out of order. Belts get wet and sloppy
and do not pull at right tension, the result be-
ing an endless variation in the substance and
quality of the paper being made on the ma-
chine. No two things seem to be right at the
same time, and every one, from the manager
downwards, is kept in a feverish state of ex-
citement as to what may happen next.

Another serious drawback in connection
with the workings of an old paper mill, relates
to that of the help. If you want to find the
lowest grade of humanity in any town or city,
you have only need to visit the old dilapidated
dwelling in the most obscure part of the place,
and there vou have them. It is a law of na-

PAPER MAKING. gn

ture, that "like begets like," and a paper mill
is no exception. Where a mill is cramped and
dirty, badly ventilated, imperfectly lighted,
and inefficiently wrought, there you would
find the poorest of help: the better class of
workmen will not remain there, but will seek
employment in the modern mills, leaving the
working of the other place to any kind of in-
ferior help that can be secured.

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER XV.

SOME REMEDIES.

"Such being the power of habit, can any one
doubt that upon the early formation of good habits
hinges the question of success in life?"

Then what is the remedy for all these hin-
drances? There surely must be a remedy!
A mill is not necessarily needing to be shut-
up for good because its machinery is a little
old, and not quite modern in its construction.
No! it is not absolutely necessary to do this,
unless it is gone too far to be beyond repair.
If there is any chance of improving the old
place, and the old machinery to advantage, by
all means do it. It is often astonishing what a
difference a good cleaning down and beautify-
ing will have on an old and dilapidated place
of business. When a mill does get into a low
condition, it is better a thousand times to shut
down and have a thorough overhaul of every-

PAPER MAKING. gi

thing. The mill should be thoroughly cleaned
out, and everything put in an efficient state of
repair. Daylight should be let into all the
dark places, for nothing engenders dirt so
much as a badly lighted mill ; the roofs, floors,
windows, doors, and all dilapidations should be
seen to. Painting and lime-washing where-
ever required should be done. All the chests,
tanks, shutes, and water-pipes should be
cleaned out; and last, but not least, by any
means, the defective machinery of every kind
put into a thorough and efficient state of re-
pair.

These periodical stoppages for cleaning and
repairing are necessary at any mill, however
new or modern in its construction or furnish-
ings; but with an old mill, it is absolutely
necessary if any good is to be done. The
stopping off of such a mill for a couple of
weeks or a month, and the employment of a
good staff of workmen to carry out the work
of cleaning and repairing will be money well
spent, and will give a hundred times better
chance of working the mill successfully after-
wards.

But when once a mill of this kind has been
put right, or in a fair way for going ahead.

0,2 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

without so many stoppages for repairs, it
would be well to try and keep up its efficiency
by constant and diligent overhauling of all its
parts, but especially such as are only too apt
to give way. This kind of supervision would
do a good deal in the way of preventing acci-
dents, involving loss of time and money.
Sometimes a pump will give out, and necessi-
tate a long stoppage to get it repaired. It gets
repaired, but does not run long before it gives
out again; and so on, time after time. Now
it would always be money saved, when such
a thing as a pump gives out simply because it
is used up, and that no amount of tinkering
will put it right for a long time, to have that
pump taken out at once and replaced with a
new one. And this same idea will apply to
everything round the mill in the way of ma-
chinery.

It is astonishing, however, how much
smoother everything will work if only kept
well cleaned and oiled. For want of uniform
lubrication machinery is often prematurely
wor out, making it both costly and incon-
venient to be so often replacing. The univer-
sal "stitch-in-time" will often save needless
stoppages from broken belts, or a slit in the

PAPER MAKING. 93

edge of a wire or felt; and these ars casualties
that will occur in the best regulated mills, and
should therefore be looked out for and fixed
up in good time.

94

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHAPTER XVI.

A NEGLECTED FIBRE.

"The shrewdest business men will admit, after
twenty years' experience in a certain trade, that
though they thought themselves wise when they
embarked in it, they really were very ignorant."

It may not be uninteresting- to American
and Canadian paper makers, book and writing
makes in particular, to bring under their no-
tice a fibre largely used for paper making pur-
poses, but not at present used in this part of
the world. Reference is made to esparto grass
as grown in Spain and, more extensively, per-
haps, on the north coast of the African conti-
nent, and which for the make of book and
writing papers has never been eclipsed. So
wedded, however, is the trade to wood in its
various forms of preparation, that, practically,
nothing has been done towards the importa-

PAPER MAKING. 95

tion of grass over here for paper making pur-
poses.

This, in one sense, is very natural. In the
first place, wood fibre is so plentiful that to
get a supply gives neither trouble nor anxiety ;
while in the second place, it has been supplied
at a price that not only commands a ready sale,
but has in all probability, proved itself a more
economical fibre to use than any other.

Under circumstances such as these, the in-
troduction of any fibre for paper making pur-
poses must of necessity be attended with some
little difficulty. At all events, it must show
some kind of superiority in respect to either
quality or price, or both: and under this kind
of test we desire to speak of esparto grass a?
a material for paper making purposes.

Up to this time, wood-pulp, both ground
and sulphite, have been almost exclusively
used in the making of news and common book
papers, and for such purposes is probably the
cheapest and readiest kind of fibre within the
knowledge of the paper making community at
the present moment.

Esparto grass, however, is a fibre eminently
fitted for better uses than these, in proof of
which it is almost exclusively used by some of

Cj6 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

the very best makers of book and writing pa-
pers in the paper making world to-day. They
use it because it produces a better result than
any other fibre extant. It is not only very
extensively used in the making of the highest
grades of book and writing papers, but in the
finest drawing and litho papers aUo.

The "proof of the pudding is in the eating"
is an old and yet very significant adage, and
wonderfully full of meaning; and if the great
body of book and writing papermakers of
the old land have found esparto grass superior
for this purpose to any other fibre, we can
have no better proof of its merits than this.

So much for the merits of the grass as a
fibre. Now as to the price, for that is, with-
out doubt, the crucial point. There are few
paper makers — probably none — who could
not make a superior paper to what they are
now doing if price did not restrict them to the
use of certain materials which they can buy at
a cheap rate. The cost of the coat must al-
ways be governed by the price of the cloth
from which it is made; and if a cheap coat is
desired, a cheaper and lower kind of material
has to be used.

Esparto grass, from the port of Oran on the

PAPER MAKiyCr. 97

north coast of Africa can be delivered into
this country at the price of $16 per ton of
2,240 Ibs. This is for the best quality. A fail-
average quality can be bought at a little under
$15. Prices have never been lower than they
are now, and at the prices quoted, the use of
esparto would probably be found cheaper than
wood, leaving out of the question the very su-
perior kind of paper it would make, and one
that would bring a higher price in the market.

To those who have not seen the esparto fibre
we may sa,y that in color and general appear-
ance it very much resembles broom cord. It
is very strong and fibrous and in every way
well adapted for paper making purposes.

Its preparation for use is a very simple
process. In the first place it is passed through
a duster — an iron conical-shaped duster is the
best for the purpose — where the iron teeth on
the drum are alternated by similar iron teeth
on the side of the duster, so that when the es-
parto has passed through it, the small bundles
being of a size very convenient for reeding
purposes, there are scarcely two straws of the
grass lying the same way, the grass itself be-
ing by this process thoroughly cleaned of dust.

It has then to be boiled, and this is best

98 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

done in a vertical shaped boiler, about 9 feet
by 12 feet which will hold about 7,500 Ibs. of
esparto. The grass is fed to the boiler through
a manhole at the top, and discharged through
another manhole situated at about the middle
of the boiler. It can be boiled most effectively
with 15 Ibs. of caustic soda, of 60° strength,
to each 112 Ibs. of grass, which is after the
rate of 300 Ibs. of caustic to each ton of 2,240
Ibs. It requires to be boiled about six hours
at a pressure of from 40 to 45 Ibs. of steam.
The boiler should be so constructed as to se-
cure a free circulation of the liquor; for, like
the boiling of a cabbage or other vegetable,
it needs to be evenly and uniformly boiled,
after which it will bleach with the greatest
ease and at the smallest cost.

From the figures above given every practi-
cal paper maker will be able to "count the
cost" of using esparto grass. The cost of boil-
ing may seem a great addition to the cost of
the grass, but when it is remembered, that by
means of reclaimers, 75 to 90 per cent of the
caustic may be recovered for use over again,
the expense is reduced to a minimum.

Esparto grass fibre is very cheaply bleached.
The liquor need not be of more than of the

PAPER

99

strength of from four to six twaddle, and will
in a couple of hours or so come up to a beau-
tifully white color, fit to make any superior
kind of white paper.

The mixing of other fibres with esparto
grass will depend very much on the kind of
paper it is desired to make. For the very
highest grade of book papers, about ten per
cent of linen rags and say fifteen per cent of
cotton rags, will be ample; and these well
beaten together in the engine, and then passed
through a Jordan engine, will produce the
very best results. For writings of the best
and strongest quality, a little more rag may
be used and a little more size as well. These
instances will carry a larger proportion of clay
than any paper made out of pure wood fibre.

Were there a demand for esparto grass in
this country, regular shipments could be ar-
ranged to come in at any of the leading ports,
so as to be convenient for transmission to the
mills: and by keeping a stock of 200 or 300
tons always on hand at the mill, there would
be no chance of disappointment should a ves-
sel be lost, or detained through mis-adventure
of any kind.

The yield from esparto grass is fifty per

I00 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

cent; in other words, two tons of grass will
make one ton of paper. The grass is always
sold 2,240 pounds to a ton, and double this
amount would make 2,240 pounds of paper.
It may be added further, that esparto grass
takes a beautiful finish at the calenders.

PAPER MAKING. ioi

CHAPTER XVII.

SUNDAY WORK.

"Nearly all the successful merchants in this coun-
try have won their fortunes, not by sudden gains,
by bold, and masterly, yet hazardous strokes of
speculation, but by the slow but sure accumulation
of commercial industry."

Paper making is a very exceptional kind of
business; the machinery from various causes
having to be kept running night and day
throughout the week, and, in some cases, a
portion of the Sabbath day as well, is also in-
cluded in the paper making proper, the fe\\
remaining hours being devoted to repairs, for
which there is no other opportunity available.
Xo wonder that the organization known as the
Sunday Alliance, the special object of which
is to do away with all kinds of Sunday labor,
has become a formidable factor both in the
United States, and in Canada also: and is just
now by means of its several branches through-

102 IIKLI'X TO PROFITABLE

out the country, causing some commotion
among paper mills where a certain amount of
Sunday labor seems absolutely necessary, so
long as paper mills continue working on their
present lines.

Why paper mills should have to work day
and night continually, and not cotton mills,
machine shops, woolen mills, or other large
manufacturing industries, is one of those prob-
lems which are not very easy of solution. It
is so, and always has been so. Where a paper
mill is driven by water, it does seem a pity to
let the power run to waste, which it would
have to do if the mill shut down for twelve
hours out of the twenty-four. But are there
not some cotton mills, machine shops and
other industries driven by water power? And
yet their working hours are limited to those
from six A. M. to six P. M.

It is quite true, there are some peculiarities
about paper making that are not found in
the other trades or businesses above enumer-
ated. The "process" is such that continuous
running is more conducive to good work. The
shutting down and starting up of a paper ma-
chine for example is a waste of time and at-
tended with more or less waste of stuff. The

PAPER \1AKI\H. 103

k would not be so easy to work, nor would
it make as good paper, if allowed to remain
:• landing in the beaters all night, but would get
ppy" and "greasy," and much more diffi-
cult to manipulate.

For these and other reasons it has been
found advantageous to run paper mills night
and day. Of late years, however, the exigen-

- of trade have had some controlling inter-
est in the matter. The spirit of competition
has introduced something like system and
method into the business, and the result is that
to-day paper mills are being run for all they
are worth : not simply running for twenty-four
hours per day during the legitimate working
days of the week, but the sacred hours of the
Sabbath are being more or less encroached
upon, in order to secure a larger output.

Xow there is one thing certain! There are
doubtless a large number of paper makers in
the United States and Canada who view with
the greatest alarm this gradual ignoring of the
Sabbath, and who. as a matter of conscience,
will allow no work to be done on that day.
but such as comes within the category of
"works of mercy" and "works of necessity."
These men are no doubt as anxious about the

104

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

"output" as any of their competitors, but who,
having some honest regard for the sanctity of
the Sabbath, ignore all unnecessary Sunday
labor. Seeing that their mills are in full ope-
ration during every hour of the secular days
of the week, they look upon "doing repairs on
the Sunday" as a matter of necessity, and very
naturally think it the lesser of two evils; that
is, that by doing repairs on the Sabbath, in-
stead of shutting down for that purpose during
the week, they are doing a kindness to
their workpeople who are depending on the
regularity and continuity of their employment
for their daily bread. This, of course, is a very-
plausible kind of argument, and a good deal
may be said in its favor. But there is a bet-
ter way out of the difficulty than this, and one
which sooner or later will have to be adopted
by the paper making community. Of course,
we do not lose sight of the fact that all this
Sunday labor, whether it be more or less, is
done to save time in the working hours of the
mill, and with a view to making the output as
large as possible by running the machinery up
to the very eve of the Sabbath.

There is, moreover, no losing sight of the
fact, that "repairs" have to be done sometime.

PAPER MAKING. 105

A mill running twenty-four hours to the day,
and six days to the week, is sure to require
something in the way of repairs, even if the
machinery will hold out to the end of the week.

Xow, the crucial point is this! Cannot the
paper makers mutually agree upon some com-
mon plan for obviating the necessity of Sun-
day work, and at the same time amply provide
for the repairs that in the best regulated mills
are absolutely necessary? Cannot they, for
example, mutually agree to shut down their
mills at six o'clock on Saturday evening and
not resume work until twelve o'clock Sunday
evening?

The advantages of such an arrangement
would be obvious. The time from six o'clock
till twelve o'clock on Saturday evening could
be utilized for repairs; and. in most mills, would
be amply sufficient for the purpose. At pres-
ent, the millwrights, carpenters and pipe fitters
are the men on whom the responsibility for
doing repairs undoubtedly rests. These men,
as a rule, under existing conditions have a hol-
iday on Saturday afternoons. There would,
therefore, be nothing unnatural or unreason-
able in having these men come to work when
the paper making ceases for the week at six

106 ///•;/,/'* TO PROFITABLE

o'clock on Saturday evening and in right good
earnest, under proper management, set about
the repairs.

This would render "Sunday work'' entirely
unnecessary, and would amply meet the diffi-
culty all round, both with employers and em-
ployed. A mutual shut down of all the mills
at six o'clock on Saturday evening, in out
judgment, is the panacea for all the evils that
now arise from unnaturally prolonged hours
of labor and the still greater evil of "Sunday
work !"

PAPER

CHAPTER XVIII.

WHERE PROFIT IS LOST.

"Among the habits required for the efficient pros-
ecution of business of any kind, the most important
are those of application, observation, method, ac-
curacy, punctuality and dispatch."

One of the most discouraging things about
paper making is that a man should go on
month after month, and year after year, work-
ing away at a terrific rate and suffering all
sorts of worries and anxieties, and still be mak-
ing no headway, but oftener the reverse — los-
ing money! Xo man, or body of men, is justi-
fied in doing this. When a man finds his busi-
ness, in spite of all his exertions, is going to
the bad, he had a thousand times better pull up
at once, and diligently enquire where the trou-
ble lies. Many a man loses his money who
has no need to do so, but loses in utter ignor-
ance of the cause or causes which are draining

I08 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

away his capital, but simply puts it all down
to bad trade or the like.

Trade may indeed be bad, prices low, and
orders hard to get; but this is not all that a
paper maker has to contend with, and that
goes to make up the losses on his business
transactions. There are other causes at work,
and a keen and diligent man of business will
not be long in finding out their source in or-
der to secure their removal or correction.

One of the most prolific sources of loss
about a paper mill is the loss from waste;
enormous waste that is allowed to go on,
sometimes unperceived, although under one's
very eye. A paper mill is a terrible place for
wasting money if you don't have just the right
sort of men to look after things. The time
was when a superintendent making colored
papers, if he did not get the right tint would
not hesitate, but get rid of what he considered
"spoiled stuff' by emptying it down the creek.
This, it is true, was done at a time when
profits on paper making could better afford
losses of this kind than now.

It is not, however, to gross and reckless
waste of this kind to which we allude, but to
the thousand and one little things about a mill

PAPER MAKING.

109

where carelessness, neglect or indifference in
small matters eventuate in a big loss at the
end of the year. A business may not be los-
ing money on the actual working, but on the
other hand be realizing a small profit; but if
care and economy are not used this minimum
of profit may dwindle into insignificance, to be
replaced by a loss.

It is, therefore, of the utmost importance
that there should be in constant exercise that
"eternal vigilance" without which no business
can possibly hope to succeed. Care and econ-
omy should be vigorously exercised in every
department of a paper mill, if it is to be suc-
cessful. Nothing should be wasted or allowed
to waste, or most disastrous results will inevit-
ably follow. It does not follow as a natural
consequence that the practice of economy will
make a business successful; but all things
being equal, no business can be thoroughly or
satisfactorily carried on where economy is not
a plank, figuratively speaking, in the funda-
mental construction of the edifice.

In the economical working of a mill a good
deal depends upon the help, but more on the
superintendent or manager. The man in con-
trol, if the "right man in the right place," will

! I0 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

be careful in the selection of his help — men in
whom he has every confidence, not only for
having things done "decently and in order,"
but faithful and reliable men who will see that
nothing is wasted in the process of manufact-
ure, either in their own department or any
other with which they may have to do.

This principle of care and economy should
run through every branch of the business, and
extend from the principal downwards. The
superintendent or other person responsible for
the selection of stock out of which to make
paper, should see that it is done with due re-
gard to the dollars and cents part of the ques-
tion; that the paper should be made out of
materials that will not only secure the right
quality of paper desired by the customer, but
at a price that will leave a reasonable and
adequate profit on the manufacture for the
good of the firm.

Those responsible for the successful work-
ing of the mill should also keep a watchful
eye on all the auxiliary departments to see
that nothing is there wasted, or allowed to go
to waste through carelessness or neglect.
Where there is no water power, the raising of
steam is often an expensive matter requiring

PAPER MAKIXG. m

great forethought and vigilance on the part of
those whose duty it is to attend to these mat-
ters. The selection of the kind of coal to be
used — a coal that will quickly generate steam
and at the smallest possible cost — is of the ut-
most importance. The firing of the steam
boilers should also be done in a scientific and
workmanlike manner. This is not done by
simply throwing coal into the furnaces, but in
doing it in proper quantities and at the right
time. It is likewise very desirable to provide
against all leakages or unnecessary waste of
steam through defective valves or imperfect
appliances of any kind. It is sometimes really
astonishing to find at how much less cost for
coal per ton of paper made, one mill can sur-
pass another.

Another part of a paper mill that requires
careful supervision and watchfulness is that of
the machine-shop. One mill is kept in a good
state of repair at a much less cost than an-
other; and all through the management mak-
ing itself familiar with the work of the ma-
chinists in the "repair shop " While it is at
all times true economy to have even-thing
kept in an efficient state of repair, it is always
well to remember that machinists are not sim-

112 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ply kept for the fun of the thing, or to spend
their time dawdling about in a "make-believe''
kind of work, but should be well looked after,
and no larger a staff employed than is abso-
lutely necessary to keep up the wear and tear
of the mill.

In the use of materials, chemicals, sizing, oil,
tallow, or any other article used in the process
of manufacture, the utmost care should be
used, and the most vigilant supervision kept
by those responsible for same. Without sys-
tem or method there is sure to be waste, and
consequent loss.

There is of course a vast difference in the
habits and dispositions of men, as well as in
their training; one man is naturally wasteful
and extravagant, and utterly careless and ob-
livious of the value of any article that he may
have the handling of in the course of his daily
work; while another will exercise care and
economy in everything he has to do with, and
use his employer's property as if it were his
own.

PAPER MAKING.

CHAPTER XIX.

PAPER MILL BOOKKEEPING.

"If you would succeed, you must give your whole
mind, heart, and soul to your work."

In connection with any business, however
small or insignificant, there will be a thous-
and-and-one difficulties and worries cropping
up from time to time in connection therewith ;
and the least neglect on the part of those in
charge will only augment as well as accentu-
ate those difficulties, and render business man-
agement an unmitigated source of annoyance
and loss, instead of pleasure and profit.

In no department of a paper mill's opera-
tions will the above remarks more forcibly ap-
ply than to any neglect on the pirt of those
whose duty it is to keep — and to keep cor-
rectly— all transactions in respect to orders re-
ceived. This is of the most vital importance ;
and if neglected, or only attended to in a slip-

114

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

shod kind of manner, may eventuate in loss
and an endless amount of worry and annoy-
ance.

But the point of chiefest importance, in con-
nection with paper mill bookkeeping, is that
of keeping a strict and accurate account of all
money transactions. No business worthy of
the name, can be successfully carried on where
an entry of its receipts and expenditures are
not regularly and systematically recorded.
Tradesmen, in years gone by, were alas! too
much in the habit of trusting to memory, and
neglecting to keep a proper record of their
transactions, the result being that they often
found themselves in the bankruptcy court be-
fore they knew what they were doing. No
business man with any pretensions to ability,
or regard for his commercial reputation, will,
in these days, attempt to carry on business
without having first provided for the proper
and efficient keeping of his accounts.

Any neglect of this matter of keeping strict
and accurate accounts of every transaction is
a very reprehensible practice; and no compe-
tent or careful man of business would dare to
do it. To no class of tradesmen does this
more forcibly apply than to papermakers; for

PAPER MAKING. 115

it is not simply the keeping of a cash account
of all moneys paid and received, but it in-
volves the keeping of a strict and accurate
account of the goods bought and their relative
value in producing at a profit the paper for
which they are to be used. Any papermaker,
or manager of a paper mill, neglecting to do
this will very soon find himself in difficulties,
and have but a poor idea from whence the
trouble comes if his business is not successful.
No papermaker, worthy of the name and
position in business he occupies, will go on
working from week to week, and from month
to month, without knowing just what he is
doing, and whether the materials he is work-
ing, and the way he is working them, is re-
sulting in a profit or otherwise. He will not
only want to know with the minutest accu-
racy what his jackets and felts^ his wires, belt-
ing, oil, tallow or other grease is costing him
per ton of paper made; but also his coals,
wages and dead expenses generally. To do
this, and to do it effectually, he must have a
strict record kept of every transaction. His
storekeeper must be a man of intelligence and
ability, perfectly trustworthy and reliable,
whose duty it shall be to receive the invoices,

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

as they come to the office, of every article
coming into his department, from which he
can check off the count or the weight, or both,
of the respective goods as they come into his
storeroom. He will not only do this most
important work, but he will, if the right man
be selected for the duty, carefully examine the
quality and condition of the goods as well, and
at once report any defects therein, thus saving
an endless amount of worry, loss and incon-
venience to the firm by which he is employed.
A duty of this kind, faithfully and honestly
discharged, will bring its own reward, and
amply repay the little expense involved. For,
however honest may be the intentions of the
parties supplying the goods, mistakes will oc-
cur in the best regulated houses, through the
inadvertency, or neglect, or carelessness of its
employes.

Where the storekeeper finds that the goods
have been received as invoiced by the senders,
and are in proper order and condition at the
time of delivery, he will endorse the invoice
and hand it back to the invoice clerk in the
office, who will, in due course, enter it into
the bought ledger to the credit of the sender
and debit of the mill. It will be the duty of

PAPER MAKIXG.

the storekeeper to issue all goods — such as
felts, wires, etc., required in the mill, and to
keep a strict account of all these transactions.
But the most important part of a storekeeper's
duty is that of keeping a record of all ma-
terials consumed in the process of paper mak-
ing. Some mills use a variety of materials:
and it is absolutely necessary that a full and
faithful record shall be kept of every pound of
stuff going into the mill out of which paper
is to be made, in addition to all the auxiliaries
used by paper makers, such as felts, wires,
belting, tools, implements, etc.

The materials, as well as all ingredients
used for making paper, should be in an ac-
count of its own as the "cost of production,"
and a separate account kept for felts, wires,
belting, etc.. so that the firm can at any mo-
ment find out just what these articles have
been costing them over any given period of
time : and the details of which will not only be
immensely useful, but absolutely necessary,
for stock taking purposes.

With respect to the paper sent out, the
same care and scrupulous exactness as to de-
tail should be observed. Paper as it is fin-
ished up should be entered in a book, kept for

Hg HELPS TO PROFITABLE

that purpose by the foreman finisher. A rec-
ord should be kept by him of the paper as it
is shipped to customers, including the fullest
details as to reams and bundles, or reels, as
the case may be, giving size and height — ac-
tual and estimated — and these should be car-
ried into the office to be invoiced by the clerk
whose duty it is to attend to these things.

No paper manufacturer of the present day
will care to follow the precedent set by their
forefathers, that is, of never caring to find out
until stocktaking what the business is doing
in the way of profit. In days long gone by,
business men never knew whether they were
losing or making money until they took stock,
once a year or so. But in these days of close
competition and small profits, the careful pa-
permaker will desire to know, at stated peri-
ods— say fortnightly or monthly, just what his
business has been doing; and if the accounts
in the various departments have been correct-
ly kept he will have no difficulty in doing this.
In fact, if correct accounts are kept of the
daily consumption of material, coal, etc., and
accurate returns made morning and evening
of the amount of paper made, the proprietor
or manager may know at the end of each week

PAPER MAKIXG. 119

just what the mill has done, in the direction of
profit or of loss. If he is a careful man and
anxious to be on the right side, he will at the
end of each month have a statement prepared,
which shall show him just exactly what the
mill has been doing in the month. This state-
ment will show the consumption of materials,
chemicals, sizing, coals, wages, freights and
dead expenses. This latter item would in-
clude the cost pro rata for each ton of paper
made of felts, wires, belting, oil, tallow, horses
and wagons, management, insurance, freights,
incidentals, etc. On the credit side of the
statement would be the quantity of paper
made moneyed out at a price at which it was
sold, with the discounts, and allowances, if
any, deducted therefrom. Next to an ex-
haustive and accurate stock-taking, this
monthly account business is the nearest ap-
proximation that a papermaker can adopt for
ascertaining, with any degree of accuracy,
whether his mill is making profits or loss; and
those who have not yet adopted this system,
or some other equally reliable, should do so
at once. It will help to lessen the anxiety
and worry and remove all doubt or perad-
venture in respect to the progress of the busi-

120 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

ness. If the mill is found not to be paying
on the lines it is then working upon, it gives
opportunity to make such changes as may
seem to be necessary to bring it round to a
paying point.

PAPER MAKING.

CHAPTER XX.

PERSISTENCE NEEDED.

"All the men who have made their own fortunes
have been pre-eminently distinguished for their in-
tense and steady industry."

Money and brains, albeit a somewhat rare
combination, when combined, ought to lead
the owner to success. The brain can plan the
work, or select the goods that the money will
enable one to carry out or buy, but it takes
something more than either to build up a
sound business, and gain a reliable footing in
the commercial world, says a close observer.
Often the most brilliant individuals, with the
clearest brains, are blessed, or cursed, with an
impatient disposition which cannot brook de-
lay or await development. The bright intel-
lect may evolve a good scheme to increase
trade, but if the body is unwilling to bestow
the tedious and continuous labor necessary to
the carrying out of the project, nothing will

122 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

be accomplished. Ten men out of a dozen
may see clearly what course to pursue to
achieve success, but hardly one will have the
persistence to faithfully take up in turn the
various details that are necessary to the result.

In all our large cities there are thousands of
smart men who are going down hill, men with
intellects above the average, and well posted
in matters of general interest. Many of them
have been in business, and the possession of
large amounts of money, and have had flatter-
ing prospects of success; yet they have lived to
see what they used to term "slow" men pass
them on the road to success and wealth; and
this in spite of their bright ideas and once
ready cash. The simple reason why these men
did not succeed in business was not because
they were not "brainy'' enough, but, in most
instances, because they were not patient
enough to wait for results.

Building up a business may be likened to
the building up of a brick wall ; each individual
brick must be carefully and faithfully placed;
and not until this operation has been repeated
thousands of times will the wall begin to as-
sume importance. It does not take any ex-
traordinary amount of brains to plan out in a

PAPER lf.LA'/.\£.

123

very short time sufficient business to consume
a years exertions, but it requires a high de-
gree of persistence to follo\v out the details six
days in -the week, and fifty-two weeks in the
year. The grand opportunities that we hear
so much of lie at our own feet, and not over
our richer neighbor's wall as so many of us
imagine. As a successful business man re-
cently remarked — he had worked his way up
from a very small beginning — the greatest en-
emy he had to conquer was a natural disposi-
tion to try a new field of labor. There had
scarcely been a year since he started in busi-
ness that he had not been tempted to experi-
ment in some other line of trade that prom-
ised greater profits. That he had not yielded
to this feeling he attributes his success; for, as
he stated, only two of all the men he knew
in the same line of trade when he started, were
now independent, although in the meantime
some of them had tried over a dozen different
occupations.

There is only one road to success: steer
straight and you will reach the goal. It take>
more persistence to-day than it did twenty-
years ago, for the avenues of trade are more
closely crowded. At cne time it was possible

I24 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

for a bright man to make a fortune out of a
single idea with comparatively little personal
effort, but there is to-day a surplus of ideas
and schemes, and too few persistent workers.
Almost everyone seems to know of a short cut
to success, but it is only occasionally that we
find one who has the application and persever-
ance to patiently work out his ideas; and, as
a rule, that is the successful man.

PAPER MAKING.

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PAPER MAXIM. 137

-THE-

Pnsey& Jones Company

Wilmington, Delaware.

Builders of

PULP AND PAPER
MACHINERY,

All Machinery required for

Sulphite Pulp, Soda Pulp,

Ground Wood, Pulp

Board and Straw

Board Mills.

Sole Agents for tht
SOLOMON-BRUNGGER SULPHITE PATENTS

WELDED DIGESTERS

Furnished only by

THE PUSEY& JONES COMPANY

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

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HELPS TO PROFITABLE

Paper Mill Machinery

All Types
Highest Grade

ADDRESS

Beloit Iron Works

BELOIT, WIS., U. S. A.

PAPER MAKING. I29

THE

NEW ENGLAND
GRINDER

Is the simplest, most convenient, most

easily and cheaply operated of

any Grinder on the market.

No pay required until you get all
you bargain for.

Write for further information.
No charge for reliable estimates.

OLIN SCOTT,

BENNINGTON, VERMONT.

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

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PAPER MAKING. 131

105,000,000

Gallons

of Water a Day

Are purified in Paper
and Pulp Mills by the
Uie of the

WARREN
FILTER

A Paper Maker's In-
rention for Paper

Makers' Use.

Manufactured by

CUMBERLAND MFG. COMPANY,

220 Devonshire Street, Boston.

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

CHILLED ROLLS

Farrell Foundry and
Machine Company
Ansonia, Conn.

COMPLETE CALENDERS

PAPER MAKING. 133

KEEP ON USING

EASTWOOD'S

FOURDRINIER

WIRES

With Patent Safety Edge.

Bran, Copper and Iron Wire Cloth of
Every Description.

EASTWOOD WIRE MFG. CO,

BELLEVILLE, N. J.

134 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

The HELLER
& MERZ Co.,

Proprietors of the

American Ultramarine and
Globe Aniline Works,

55 Maiden Lane, New York.

Ultramarine for Paper
Makers.

SUPERIOR QUALITIES

ANILINE COLORS OF ALL SHADES
SAMPLES MATCHED.

PAPER MAKING.

135

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PAPER MAKING.

138 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

There are other FELTS
made besides the

"HAMILTON/'

but there is no other domestic felt
that has been before the trade for
so long a period of time as the

"HAMILTON/'

IT IS DURABLE AND RELIABLE, AND
REASONABLE IN PRICE.

A Trial is imii+oH — ~

SHULER. &
BENNINGHOFEN,

MIAMI WOOLEN MILLS,

Hamilton, Ohio.

PAPER UAKINO.

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PAPER MAKING.

141

1 42

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

FILTERING STONES

For Paper Mill Drainer Bottoms

Manufactured under the Klary and Snell pat-
ents. These Perforated Stone Drainer Bottoms
are now in general use and furnish the best mear.s
yet discovered of extracting the water from paper
pulp They are durable, and dilute acids or
bleaching powders have no effect on them. These
stones do not contain sand, ashes nor any adulter-
ations to destroy the strength of the material or
injure the pulp. They are now in use by the
Whiting Paper Co., Holyoke Paper Co., Massasoit
Paper Co., Geo. R. Dickinson, Nonotuck Paper
Co., Parsons Paper Co.. Syms & Dudley, all of
Holyoke. Mass ; Patten Paper Co., Gilbert Paper
Co., Geo. A. Whitin?, at Neenah, Wis. For fur-
ther information address

5amuel Snell, Holyoke, flass.

PAPER MAKING.

143

I44 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

Fire Proof Roofings

Fire Proof Cold Water Paint

(Inside Work Only.)

Asbestos Steam Packing
Asbestos Steam Pipe & Boiler

Coverings
Metal Paints, Etc,

Write tor Prices.

H. F. WATSON COMPANY,

ERIE, PA., and 182 Fifth Avenue, CHICAGO.

ORDER YOUR

SCREENS AND
PERFORATED PLATES OF

FRASER & CHALMERS,

FULTON & UNION STS-. CHICAGO, ILL.

PAPER

JEFFREY

-

oiler, Steel and Special (Ms

ELEVATING
CONVEYING
MACHINERY

RULOriLLDH

POWER TRANSMISSION
MACHINERY.

COAL MINING MACHINERY.

Wire CaDle
Conyeyorc.

THE JEFFREY MFB. CO. l63NwEa;hiYnC8t
Columbus, Ohio.

S«n<i tor Caulopi*.

I46 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

GUTTA PERCHA
DRIVING BELT

Made of High Grade Gutta
Percha and Special Woven
Duck,

Gutta Percha makes a most tenacious friction and
does not deteriorate with age .

It i« Exceedingly Strong and Wears Like
Iron with Little or No Stretch.

Spliced like other belts.
Same Price List as Rubber Belting.

The Columbia Rubber Works Company,

141 Lake Street, Chicago.

J. LOWENTHAL. B. 1OWEN1HA..

B. LOWENTHAL BROS. & CO

Paper Stock, Woolen Rags and Metals,

Old Rubbers a Specialty.
SiS-$i7 South Canal Street. CHICAGO

Mill Cogs!

Rock Maple Cogs on shortest possi-
ble notice. I make Cogs with blank
head to be spaced and dressed after
»being driven but make a SPECIALTY
I of READY DRESSED COGS, which are
ready to run the moment driven and
keyed. Send for Circular N.

THE N. P. BOWSHER CO., South Bend, Ind.

PAPER MAKING.

147

PRES5E5

For baling Paper, Rags, Etc.

$

Send for Circulars, Price Lists, etc.. to the sole
manufacturer, Th« Wm. P. Miller Co. -successor
to J. H. Balston, 100 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn.
E. D..N. Y.

T^

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I48 HELPS TO PROFITABLE

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PAPER MAKING.

149

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HELPS TO PROFITABLE

PAPER MAKING.

IRVIN VAN WIE

SYRACUSE, N. Y.

Manufacturer of

CENTRIFUGAL PUflPS,

Either Light or Heavy Pressure,
Side or Double Suction.

Triplex
Power
Pumps

AND

Deep
Well
Pumps

HELPS TO PROFITABLE

The Roach Patent

Metallic

Steam

Joint.

Patented May 13, 1887, and September
8, 1885.

For Rotary Paper Dryers and Revolving
Cylinders.

3,0000 Now in Use on Paper Machines in
Over 400 Paper Mills.

Does away with Packing the Dryers. No

Leakage of Steam. Requires no

Attention and will Last for Years.

Medal Awarded at World's Fair.

Send for Circular and
Price List.

M. J. Roach, Anderson, Ind.

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